


The Forgotten

by ObliviousBlondes_Unite



Series: Pesky Memories [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Cannon Divergence, Curently under revisement, Different suits, Erased memories, Identity Reveal, Mention of cancer, Sort of death of major character, alternate universe death of major character, definite angst, magical explanation of historic events, mention of depression, oringinal origins of OC’s, possible happy ending but no spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-13
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-08-01 10:46:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 50,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16283144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObliviousBlondes_Unite/pseuds/ObliviousBlondes_Unite
Summary: It’s another day for Marinette. She wakes up late for school and rushes through her morning routine. Just like normal. And like normal, it’s time for the weekly akuma. Unlike normal, she’s attacked by the akumatized victim before she can transform. But it’s not really an ‘attack’ per se.After this weird encounter, she tries to find a place to go and transform, but you can’t really do that when you don’t technically exist.





	1. Somthing’s Off

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Candasaurus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Candasaurus/gifts).



> Edit; I started writing this a while ago, and I am currently revising all the chapters to be more in line with what I want. I want to thank all of you who have suffered through my writing before, I hope this makes you proud. Anyway, chapter one and two have been updated, chapters 3-6 are soon to be updated, chapters 7-10 are soon to be revised then updated. After that, I will be posting the last two chapters.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akuma are weird, they have all sorts of powers. This one is weird. No name, no basic aggenda. So, when Marinette gets touched by this weird akuma, how does she deal with the consequences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was edited and changed slightly to match what I want it to be more like. For any of you who read the original-ish chapter, I hope you like this better. To those of you who are new, enjoy what I have created. I’m going through every other chapter to change then slightly to fit more of what I want this story to be, so some chapters are going to be quite a bit different from the others. Anyway, I’ll let you read this revised chapter!

Running to school in less than two minutes is quite a feat. But to Marinette, it’s become everyday life.

"Dang it! Hawkmoth just HAD to release an akuma at midnight." She utters angrily as she reaches the stairs to the school. "Does he not have a liiiIFFEEEE!" she yells the last part as she trips on the top step of the stairs. Ready to meet her fate, she closes her eyes and braces for a taste of concrete to start her day.

It never comes.

When she opens her eyes, wanting to see what’s saved her from her fall. What she sees may or may not have prompted a squeal from her.

Adrien Agreste caught her! _He’s somehow always in the right place at the right time._

Then she realizes that she’s still leaning on him, and pushes off him, quickly apologizing.

"It's alright," he assures her, "um, I couldn't help but overhear part of what you were saying, but… who doesn't have a life?" Adrien inquires.

"A-uh-um, Haw-Hawkmoth?" she replies sheepishly.

"Hawkmoth?" Adrien asks as he opens the door for her. _Why must he be so perfect?_

"Y-yeah, the akuma attack last night was too loud, and it woke me up." she tells him, it's not exactly a lie though, so she has nothing to be guilty about.

"Wow, that must have been rough." Adrien says as they walk up the stairs to the second level of the school. "Hey... would you like to go get ice-cream sometime?"

Marinette stops dead in her tracks. " M-me, wi-with y-you? F-for ice cream? I-I mean, Y-yeah! Totally!

Adrien opens his mouth to say something, only for the shrill sound of her alarm to come out.

* * *

 

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Marinette jerks awake, eyes blown open wide. What just happened? She was just... talking to... Adrien…

She groans as she realizes that it was all just a dream...Then she remembers something. That particular alarm was set _5 minutes before school starts!_

She pops out of bed with sudden energy, and rushes through her morning routine.

She runs down her stairs to the kitchen to quickly grab a croissant, then rushes outside, her rushed morning breakfast hanging from her mouth as she pulls on her backpack.

Then when she is not even 5 feet outside the bakery door, she's startled by.... something, causing her to drop her croissant.

"Dang it! I don’t have time to go back for more.” She’s just standing there, musing over her dropped croissant.

She should pick up the croissant. It’s common decency. As she couches down to pick up the croissant, something catches her eye from a nearby alley.

The air crackles with an all too familiar wariness. A feeling that only accompanies akuma attacks. This one is weird though, there is no screaming to be heard.

Her Ladybug instincts kick in and she starts running to a nearby alley, trying to find a place to transform, when suddenly she crashes into someone who just rounded the corner, knocking both her and the person to the ground.

“I’m so, so sorry” Marinette hastily apologizes as she scrambles up. She then realizes that she knocked a man wearing a grey business suit into a dirtied puddle. Just her luck. "I didn't see you. Are you okay?" She asks, her hand outstretched to help, but watches with confusion as the man doesn’t accept her hand as he gets up.

“I’m fine," the man says as he turns his face to her "but it won’t make it any easier.”

A little startled by the fact that the man is wearing a pair of bright blue colored glasses, she utters, "Wh-"

But is cut off before she can finish by the man reaching out and resting a hand on her shoulder, while saying “The only way for me to be noticed, is for others to be forgotten.” Then a brief flash from the glasses.

"AHHHHHHH!" The man screams as he removes his hand from her shoulder, then without another word walks off.

"Well, that was obviously an akuma… a weird akuma." she says as she unbuckles her purse top. "What'd’Ya say we purify him, Tikki?" Marinette asks as she peers into her purse, only there's no Tikki in there.

“Tikki?” Marinette asks again as she looks around. I could have sworn she was in here. She thinks as she looks around more frantically. Then she spots Tikki, floating in the middle of the street, with her back turned to Marinette.

“Tikki! What are you doing out in the middle of the street?"

No response.

“Tikki!” Still none. “Tikki, there’s an akuma! We need to transform and meet with Chat!” She says raising her voice just a little, as she walks up to Tikki.

That’s when Tikki turns around, but she looks.... confused. Tikki then starts floating off in some random direction. “Tikki! Where are you going? Why aren’t you talking to me?” She pleads, tears welling up in her eyes as Tikki continues to float away. So, Marinette follows Tikki.

Marinette soon realizes that Tikki is going to Master Fu's place. “Tikki, what’s wrong, why are we going to Master Fu’s?”

Still no response.

When they near Master Fu’s place Marinette can see him through the window. As they get closer, Master Fu looks up from flipping his ‘closed’ sign to ‘open’ Marinette can see recognition in the features of the master’s face, but there’s something else there too. It looks like... confusion. “Tikki! What are you doing?” Master Fu exclaims when he opens the door, re-flipping the 'open' sign to 'closed'. “Come, come. We must talk.” As Master Fu and Tikki go inside, all Marinette can do is stand there, just outside the door. “I’m here too!”

Then she realizes that the door is closing. “Really? Can’t even hold the door open?” She exclaims as she slips in, getting really irritated that her situation has increased from no one talking to her to no one acknowledging her.

“Where have you been? It’s been almost three years! Where is the Ladybug Miraculous?” Master Fu questions Tikki.

“I... I don’t know Master, I just woke up in the middle of a street not too long ago.” Is Tikki’s response.

“Come on! This isn’t funny! Surely, you’re just joking, she’s been with me all this time. You _gave_ the miraculous to _me_! They’ve been in _my ears_ for those three years! They’re _still in my ears_!” Marinette exclaims in slight agitation, but to her ever-growing irritation, and confusion, no one even seems to register her words.

“Hmm...” Master Fu hums, contemplatively. “What do you recall, Tikki”

“All I remember is being in the middle of a street, as if I was going somewhere... but also nowhere...” Tikki trails off.

“Of course, we were going somewhere, Tikki! There’s an akuma out right now, and we need to go!” Marinette all but cries out.

“Did anyone see you?” Master Fu asks.

“No” Tikki responds.

“I saw you. Tikki, what’s happening?” Marinette asks, irritation falling away, as terror fills her gut, and mind. “I’m scared, Tikki.” Marinette says softly, only to get no response.

“You’re sure no one saw you?” Master Fu continues.

“Yes, there was no one there” as the words that leave Tikki’s mouth register in Marinette’s mind, her legs begin to shake as she walks towards Tikki.

“I was there, Tikki, I was there.” She all but sobs as she reaches for Tikki, to pull her to her chest. Only to have her hands phase through the little red goddess.

* * *

 

 _I wonder what Alya and Ma_ \- Adrien’s train of thought is interrupted with an intense sharp pain, keeling over, he clutches his head in a vain attempt to stunt the pain.

No one’s punched him. No one’s flung something at him. He didn’t eat anything weird today. Granted, he didn’t really eat before he left the mansion but that’s normal, so it’s not hunger pains, those feel different. This pain is unnatural.

Then a wave of wariness washes over him. This wariness appears whenever there’s a dangerous situation. But it’s different this time. This time it’s charged with something supernatural. Something magically terrifying. This feeling is familiar, since it accompanies akuma.

Feeling the pain fade away, mostly, he straightens back up. He looks around to see if anyone else is experiencing the same thing. Everyone he sees is keeled over, clutching their heads in pain. Good, that means he isn’t crazy. Or that Plagg is messing with his miraculous. Again. He cannot have splitting headaches because he has cat eyes again. Or extremely oversensitive hearing while not transformed, again.

Deciding to focus on where the wariness seems to emanate from, being the wielder of the Black Cat Miraculous grants him some useful abilities. Like the tracking of akuma. It’s not actual tracking. More like a radar. Or compass. Based solely on his feeling of wariness. The feeling of imminent destruction, damage, or dangerousness. The further away, the fainter the feeling. The closer it is, well, he can’t focus on anything else.

It seems to be coming from the Dupain-Cheng bakery. The best bakery in Paris, dubbed that by everyone. Even their dau-

He keels over in pain again, this time, it’s a bit more intense. It fades after a few seconds, and he back tracks. He was trying to figure out where the akuma seems to be… right! The Dupain-Cheng bakery!

His gaze slides over, and his gaze locks onto the building.

He opens his overshirt to look into the secret pocket he had had sewn into all his overshirts. Inside the pocket, Plagg is squinting in pain, emitting a low hiss/whimper.

“Plagg, there’s an akuma. Get ready to transform.” He warns the kwami, before running into and through the school to the bathroom. Stepping in, he neither sees nor hears any sign that anyone is in there with him.

“Okay, Plagg, Claws Out!” The second the magic finishes engulfing him, he falls to the floor, a whine of pain falling from his lips.

After a few minutes, the headache fades. Now that he’s transformed, he can find the akuma better, due to enhanced senses, and in turn, an enhanced internal akuma tracker. It shows itself in a sort of black mist.

Following his tracker, he climbs out of the bathroom window and onto the school’s roof. Standing on top of the roof, he turns in slow circles, looking for where the mist leads him-

The Dupain-Cheng bakery.

Right, he already knew that. Shaking his head, he vaults off the school in the direction of the Akuma.

Landing on the roof of the bakery, he turns in circles again. Where to go… where to-

There! North by North-East. He jumps onto a roof in that particular direction and is surprised to see that he’s found the akumatized villain.

Before jumping down, he observes the akuma, trying to see what it does, before deciding on a battle plan. This person is wearing a grey business suit. Not too memorable. In fact, all his clothes are grey. The shirt under his suit jacket is just a darker shade of grey. The rest of his suit is grey. Even his shoes! The only colorful thing about this man, is the bright blue sunglasses. They’re hard to focus on for more than a minute, since they are constantly shifting from dark blue, to a light blue, to a moderate blue, back to dark blue, etc.

After a few seconds, he gets bored. This guy isn’t moving. He’s just sitting on a dumpster lid, the outline of a butterfly framing his face. He’ll see what he’s talking to hawkmoth about.

He waits for a few more minutes, the man hasn’t spoken, the butterfly hasn’t faded. He should wait a bit more, just to see what this guy is going to do. And, shouldn’t there be _som_ -

He falls to his knees silently, doing everything he can to not cry out from the pain.

After a second, he gets fed up and jumps down to the akuma. He needs to do something to take his mind off the pain.

“Hey, what are you doing? You’ll soil your suit!” Chat Noir says as he lands beside the akuma, causing quite a ruckus. Causing the akuma to tumble from the lid onto the ground.

“Hmm” the akuma grumbles softly, very monotone. The akuma starts turning around to look at him, albeit very slowly. Before the akuma even gets halfway turned around, Chat pounces on him, pinning him to the ground. He’s too impatient.

The force of Chat knocking into the akuma is enough to launch the sun glasses off the akuma’s face. They land not even a foot away. So, he does the sensible thing and slams his fist down on the glasses. As the sunglasses break under the pressure of Chat’s fist, a black butterfly flutters out.

Chat opens his mouth to say... something, but he can’t remember what he was going to say. So, he closes his mouth. He was going to say something to _someone_ , but to who? He has absolutely no idea.

It was just him, right? It’s always just been him... right?

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t even see the man transform back into a civilian, or the black butterfly flying away. 

Suddenly, a disgruntled, “Where I’m I?” was uttered close by, Chat jolts back to reality and jumps after the akuma. Without thinking, he grabs it in his right hand, keeping it trapped by his ring. “I’m done now, right?” He utters to himself. What is he supposed to do with the akuma now? What has he done with akuma before? He racks his brain for any answers but finds none.

Then fear forms in his gut making him stumble, feeling suddenly sick.

He needs to find the master, and fast. Something is very, very _wrong_.


	2. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fighting an akuma by yourself is an extremely taxing thing. Escpecially when you are supposed to be fighting alongside a partner. A partner who should be able to fix everything. It’s even more difficult to fight when you are extremely sleep deprived and energy deprived.

Adrien’s been pacing around the huge, spacious, cold room non-stop ever since he flew through the window 10 minutes ago.

_That was close, way too close! It almost got away! Why didn't I remember to bring a jar with me to the attack? I've brought them to every other battle._ Adrien thinks, tapping his head harshly.

It's quiet in the room, the only noise being the ticking of a clock, the tip-tapping of the corrupted butterfly’s wings against the jar, and Adrien’s worried pacing.

“Stop pacing, you’re going to wear an inch-deep trail into the floor.” Plagg’s voice is laced with annoyance.

“I can’t, Plagg.” Adrien cries as he spins on his heel to continue pacing. “I’m not sure if the jar is enough to hold the akuma!”

“It’ll be fine for a while longer. Cheese. _Now_!” Plagg demands with open arms from a pillow on Adrien’s bed, and an expression that says 'I am so done with this idiot' “We should probably find Fu though” Plagg mutters under his breath.

“What was that?” Adrien stops his pacing to turn to the kwami and raise a curious eyebrow.

“Nothin’! Now give me the cheese!"

Adrien furrows his brow “Haven't you already had 5?"

"…No"

"...Fine but tell me what you said first." Adrien starts reaching into his jacket pocket for a chunk of the smelly cheese Plagg likes all too much.

"No" Plagg turns his head away, like a toddler turns away from something it doesn’t want.

“Plagg.” Adrien narrows his eyes at the kwami, taking a step toward the stubborn cat, and removing his hand from the stash of cheese.

Before Plagg responds, a knock sounds throughout the room, stopping Adrien from moving any further.

Plagg takes Adrien’s moment of confused hesitation to zip from the pillow to his charge, phasing through the shirt into the pocket. Adrien shifts to move from the spot he’s standing but Plagg phases back out of the pocket, holding the bag of cheese.

"Hey!" Adrien makes a grab for the little god.

"Door" he counters as he floats out of reach.

Huffing out a breath at his kwami’s antics, Adrien shoots Plagg his best stink eye, moving to chase the kwami.

Staying well out of reach, opening the bag of cheese and releasing the smell of camembert, Plagg turns to raise an eyebrow at Adrien.

As Adrien is about to make a jump for the little pest, but another knock sounds throughout the room.

“Kid, the door. Whoever they are, they seem to be getting impatient.” Plagg then stuffs a wedge of cheese into his mouth.

Releasing an exasperated breath, he turns from the infuriating mass of ancient magic, and heads for door closest to him. Opening it up, he finds a very amused old man in a Hawaiian shirt.

“And you are...” His voice trails off as his memory seems to become unblocked, a little bit. He only knows of one person who would ever where a Hawaiian shirt in the fall, if ever. Master Fu.

“Master!” Adrien opens the door wide as he steps aside to let the older man inside.

As he watches Master Fu walk towards the sofa, a thought hits him. _How’d he get here? I didn’t call him..._

“Hmm, this is very peculiar.” Master Fu’s voice brings him from his thoughts as the older man is sitting down, bending over, watching the Akuma.

Another memory surfaces. A memory of him meeting with Master Fu after he defeated Stoneheart, alone. And from there, trapping the corrupted butterfly inside an enchanted jar, making it impossible to phase through the material. They had Plagg test the enchantment. It worked, to the little God’s relief/disappointment.

From that, another memory surfaces. One where after a particularly hard, and destructive attack, Master Fu found out how to cast a purification spell on the akuma. Other memories where Plagg and Adrien both plead for a partner, and Master Fu vehemently refuses to, then reiterating the importance of finding the lost Ladybug miraculous, surface also.

Ones where Master Fu seems to have a sixth sense for akuma, showing up where Adrien is holed up, with the akuma grasped firmly in his hand with the miraculous.

“Kid, the door.” Plagg’s slightly nasal voice flits through the room, snapping him from the memories that seemed to have been blocked.

“What?” Adrien responds dumbly.

“The door. You left it open. Wide open. For everyone to see. For everyone who shouldn’t be seeing any- “

“Alright! I get it. I’ll close the door now.” Adrien quickly interrupts, not wanting to listen to Plagg talk to him like that.

Closing the door, he turns to walk to the sofa, only to face Plagg, sticking his tongue out at him, before sipping up to the second floor. Sighing, he continues his walk to the sofa.

Sitting down, he watches the akuma in the jar.

“This is very peculiar, indeed” Master Fu hums, leaning back into the sofa, stroking his beard.

“You’re telling me, why hasn't it phased out yet?" Adrien asks honestly baffled. The akuma are like kwami in the sense that they can phase through/squeeze through anything except for miraculous, or magical items. When they're corrupted with Hawkmoth’s dark power, there's nothing stopping them.

Master Fu shrugs "I do not know how it got here or why it is, but the jar seems to be enchanted with a spell making it impossible to phase through it.”

Another memory surfaces, one where Master Fu made more enchanted jars, giving one to him, making sure he always had a jar for the akuma.

Coming back to reality, he sees Master Fu scrunch his eyebrows in confusion.

“Actually, I do remember now.” He turns to face Adrien. “As I assume you do, too.”

“I-yes. I do.”

“Hmm.” Master Fu reaches out to pick up the jar.

“Wait. Before you go. I need to talk to you about something that happened today.”

“What happened, young hero?”

“Well, Hawkmoth seems to be sending out more and more akuma...”

“I am not going to release another miraculous. We have talked about this. I will not risk it.”

“I know, but...” Adrien hangs his head, his voice going softer. “What can we do Master? I can’t keep fighting on my own. I can’t keep trying to keep the akuma from destroying everything and waiting for the spell to come out. I can’t purify akuma, right?”

Master Fu sighs, “You are correct, The Black Cat miraculous is master of destruction, it cannot remove the corruption, it can only add to it. Only the Ladybug miraculous can purify akuma. Though I do have the purification spell recipe, it is a very tedious thing to set up and execute. We just need to make sure that the akuma are kept from escaping, and that we find the Ladybug miraculous.”

“...Master, I have searched everywhere. I _cannot_ find the Miraculous. I haven’t found Tikki. It’s lost, they’re lost- “

“I know...” Master Fu cuts in, having heard this argument many times before. Adrien sees the older man’s face contort, like he’s trying to figure out how to say something. “You just need to have faith. We’ll find them sometime.”

“Alright...” Adrien hangs his head.

There’s a short period of time where the only sounds are, a munching of cheese, the ticking of a clock, and the tip-taping of the corrupted butterfly

“Master... something’s... wrong.” Adrien says, if only to continue talking to someone who understands what he’s going through. Or to just talk to someone.

“Yes, something has become unbalanced. Though I am not sure exactly what. All we can do is to do what we can while we figure this out.” Master Fu says.

“I just hope that Hawkmoth doesn’t unleash even more akuma.” Adrien says, voice quivering slightly.

“We can only hope.” Master Fu says, before glancing down at his watch and gasping, before hastily leaving the room, stating he, “Has to get back to the parlor, he has a very important appointment.

Sighing, Adrien turns to the bathroom, aiming to take a shower, get into pajamas, tell Nathalie that he doesn’t feel good, then sleep for a bit.

Leaving the akuma in the jar, on the table, completely forgotten by everyone in the room.

Except for the small, black god, eyeing the jar warily. Not trusting the demon inside it’s enchanted walls. 

* * *

 

 

They aren’t so lucky. They never are. Not without his other half.

Honestly what can the kid say, he is literally stuck with ‘The God of Destruction, and Embodiment of Bad Luck!’ until his fragile human life runs out. Plagg is quite proud of that title. Unfortunately, as much as his holder doesn’t want to admit it, he can't doubt that anymore. Especially after the week they’ve had.

Plagg honestly doesn’t remember much. After that Monday, he fell asleep on Adrien’s face. No, he will not admit that he does it to assure himself that he isn’t going anywhere. No one knows that. Not even Tikki.

Tuesday was difficult. They had only just woken up to get ready for school. Curse the neglectful father Adrien has, no boy should be getting up at 5 every day for school. No matter their social status, they need sleep. Anyway, it was around the time that Adrien had to go to eat breakfast, when an akuma decided to attack. Of course, even though the father never showed up to eat, he vehemently refused to let Adrien not eat, even though it wouldn’t matter if he didn’t eat or not, he is malnourished, he needs more food. Adrien had to fake the urgent need for the bathroom to escape the mansion to go to the attack, his father is yet to realize that having his son model professionally by force makes him a moderately good actor. Most of his ‘emergencies’ are fake.

Wednesday didn’t fare much better. Basically, the same thing. Only, he wasn’t allowed to step away from the table until after he ate. It didn’t take long, but still!

Thursday, the attack was at midnight. Midnight! For the sake of all that is lucky, let the boy sleep!

Friday and Saturday both sported an akuma at lunch, leaving the boy without lunch. Leaving him hungrier, and malnourished.

Sunday, another midnight akuma. Honestly, when they find the coward that is Hawkmoth, he will Cataclysm him from existence.

The akuma attacks were back to normal. Extremely destructive and evasive. Leaving copious amounts of property damage everywhere. Keeping his boy at arm’s length. Drawing out the attacks to hours on end.

What wasn’t normal was that Monday a week ago. Whenever he’s tried to think about that Monday, he’s gotten a piercing headache. Adrien has too. The akuma that was in the jar that day, it was gone the next day. Adrien must have taken it to Fu’s sometime during the night while he was asleep. Or maybe Fu came by and snuck it out. He’s a weird, sneaky, silent old man. Kinda freaky too.

Adrien’s been trying to come up with a name for the akuma, since it never let loose a monologue or name, nor reason, but due to the headaches he’s been having, as well as his extremely busy schedule and stupid akuma attacks, he’s only been able to come up with “Suit Guy”, and “Man in Grey”. He saw some... meme, was it? On the computer about something called ‘Men in Black’

“Stop pacing. You’re giving me polio!” His charge had originally been pacing in a line but had degraded to spinning in circles. Fortunately, his comment managed to stop the unnecessary spinning.

“I can’t give you polio from simply walking. Plus, polio was cured decades ago. Also, I don’t think you can be affected by human diseases.” Adrien tilts his head in confusion.

“Kid, I created human/and kwami diseases alike. Either way, it doesn’t matter what I can be affected by, stop pacing. It’s vomit inducing.”

“Whatever.” Adrien huffs, starting up his pacing again, luckily, it’s not the spinning type of pacing.

“You know,” great, he’s begun to talk and pace. “I’ve actually been doing fairly good!” No. He hasn’t. He’s barely slept. On the one hand, he did finally manage to make friends with that one DJ kid that had been sort of avoiding him. Maybe that’s why.

“These attacks are getting easier, if I do say so myself.” No. Nope, they are not. If anything, they’re getting harder. But his charge is adapting and getting stronger. He’s never been prouder of a charge than he is Adrien. He’s pulling his own weight, as well as the weight that his partner should be. He’s also somehow managed to figure out how to fight like the charges he’s had before. Only in a fraction of the time. He’s a smart kid.

“I feel so accomplished!” Adrien finished, spinning back around to walk towards Plagg, puffing his chest out in pride.

"Except for whenever you're around that one girl." Plagg says, snickering when Adrien tells him to "Shut up, that's not the point."

"As I was saying, I'm doing pretty good, but without the Ladybug miraculous and the miraculous cure, so I’ve been told that’s what it’s called, buildings as well as my bruises aren’t getting fixed. It’s getting harder to cover them up, Plagg.” Adrien says as he tosses Plagg a slice of cheese to one) shut him up, and two) recharge because they're both exhausted. Then returns to his pacing

Plagg can only watch as his chosen frets about what’s happening and worry about him.

“Though I am learning- “

“Oh, you can learn?” Plagg says cutting off Adrien. After all, he has a reputation to uphold.

Adrien shoots Plagg a look while he chucks a nearby shirt at Plagg. “Yes, I can do that, now shut up.” Plagg only snickers. “I've learned to lure the akuma to already destroyed areas as to not cause any more destruction. Which is ironic considering the powers of this miraculous.” He’s not wrong. It’s taken many other holders to learn to do that when they don’t have their partner. Even the ones who do have their partner. Which only adds to the merit of his current holder, since he started doing that well before he actually started noticing. Another thing he still hasn’t noticed that the others don’t necessarily do, he observes his foes. Finding weaknesses. Striking those weaknesses, fast and _hard_.

“I am getting tired. Father still has me doing fencing, basketball, Photo shoots, piano, Chinese, is still very adamant about me getting straight A's, plus saving all of Paris. _Every_. _Day_.”

Plagg can only hum in agreement, as he curls tighter into an empty Camembert container, as he is extremely exhausted. All he’s been able to do, is sleep, recharge, and sleep some more. Though, he isn’t sleeping some of the time. He’s sneakily watching Adrien. Making sure that he isn’t in trouble. Or stressed. Though, he will, once again, never admit it.

As Adrien flops down onto his bed, not caring about changing clothes, a scream pierces through the night. “Really?! Does he not have a life?” Adrien grumbles angrily as he pulls himself off his bed. Adrien calls for his transformation with an angry yawn, and as Plagg is being pulled into the ring, he catches the time on the clock. 8:00 pm. It’s not as late as the others have been. But it’s still late. It seems to him that Adrien won't be doing his homework tonight.

* * *

 

 

As Plagg is being sucked into his ring, Adrien catches the time on his clock: 20:00. It's too late for him to be doing this, considering that Adrien has an early morning shoot _and_ exams tomorrow!

Sighing, he launches himself out of his window with his baton, as he lands, a sudden clap of thunder startles him, ripping a yelp from his throat. Looking up to the sky, he doesn’t see any clouds. That means the akuma is making thunder. _Great_.

He finds the akuma halfway across the city, the thunder getting louder the closer he gets. Landing on a roof near to where he last heard the thunder loudest, he breathes deeply, trying to catch his breath, the trek across the city having drained his already short supply of energy.

A sudden deafening clap of thunder startles him, and his senses seem to sharpen more. A feeling he’s used to. Adrenaline. He finds the numbing effect of the natural steroids soothing. Crouching down, as to be even less visible, he searches for the akuma with renewed energy. He needs to get this fight over with, as the adrenaline isn’t going to last for too much longer.

Movement catches his eye. Whipping his head towards it, he sees the akuma. This akuma seems to be about his height but is floating. Electricity is crackling all over his body, creating an aura of electricity around him, lighting scorching the ground below him, and the walls around. Lamps are being shattered as well, plunging the area into more darkness. The akuma’s skin is a neon blue, with neon green veins, making it an akuma that is hurtful to look at. The akuma isn’t one for stealth. Nor very smart, since he thrives in the shadows.

He decides to follow it, to see what the akuma’s powers are. Lightning jumps towards anything with electricity, making that thing burst into a thousand pieces.

Occasionally, the akuma blinks out of existence, followed by a crack of thunder, then appears across a street, in front of a random person, or on top of a building.

This akuma will be harder. You know, since it can teleport! Taking a steadying breath, he starts racking his brain for a plan to eliminate this akuma. As well as searching for the akumatized item. Finding the item is quite easy. It’s a necklace in the shape of a lightning bolt. It’s the only thing that isn’t lightning or skin.

The plan is harder. He won’t really be able to get close to the akuma, what with all the lightning shooting from it as well as the aura. Looking around the roof he’s on, he sees multiple metal rods and strips of metal. That’ll do. Wanting to waste no time, he starts collecting them. Bending them to what he wants. When he’s done. There are metal rods running from his forearms to his shoulders. Across his shoulders and down his back. All the way down to his metal lined boots. Somehow, maybe due to the magic Plagg has bestowed upon him, the metal moves with him, it should keep the lightning from hurting him, as long as he keeps his feet to the ground

Feeling that the makeshift exo-suit is adequate he jumps down to the ground, just behind the akuma, retrieving his baton from his under his left forearm.

“Hey!” He shouts at the akuma, throwing the baton at him. He watches as all the lighting bends around to strike the baton in the air, making the baton glow slightly orange, but that doesn’t stop the baton. It passes right through the aura and connects harshly with the back of the akuma’s head, before bouncing right back to him. He watches as the baton gets closer to him; all the lightning stored within it jumps to him. He winces slightly as the lightning connects with the metal around his arms and all over his body, and the heat that comes with it. But is quite happy as he doesn’t feel any tingling with it. He has never been happier that Plagg decided to line all his suit’s padding with metal to make it more protective. Or that the metal doesn’t touch his skin. He grabs his baton before it collided with his chest and slides his feet into a more defensive stance. _Plagg_ , he pleads, _please help keep my feet connected with the ground._

He smiles as he feels an unnatural force in his feet, making sure at least a part of his feet is always connected with the ground.

He watches as the akuma raises his hand and unleashes multiple bolts of lightning towards him. Some bolts veer off to hit lamps and buildings, but some do hit him. Well, the metal on him, then redirected to the ground.

With his smile growing wider, he starts sliding closer to the akuma, the metal around his body heating up with the lightning coursing through it, but he isn’t concerned. Plagg is keeping the lighting from hurting him. He’s going to have to thank Plagg after this.

When he gets within 5 feet of this akuma it decides to teleport at least 30 feet away. Making it extremely hard to end the fight. As time stretches on, he’s getting slower, sloppier. But keeping his feet to the ground. Plagg will get a significant more amount of cheese for that!

After what seems like hours, he gets fed up with sliding around, and just starts throwing his baton at the akuma. Each time it collides with the akuma, he grins. But that’s rare. Other times, the akuma teleports away from it. But always seems to reappear near to where the baton connects with a wall. Like he’s tied to the baton while teleporting.

After a while, he decides to haphazardly throw his batons (he doubled them up, after a frustrating 10 minutes of teleporting). Finally, the batons manage to draw the akuma within reach, while also keeping the akuma’s attention on himself. He swipes for the necklace and is delighted to see his hand and arm go through the aura quite easily, but the second he grabs onto the necklace, his body is shocked with electricity. He’s thrown back quite a few feet, slamming into a wall, hands and jaw clenching. Muscles clamping. Spasming.

His vision goes black for a second, before being dotted with white.

When the electricity leaves his system. He sees the akumatized person walking towards him, his makeshift exo-suit floating around him, melting. That explains why he was suddenly blasted with lightning. He’s quite joyed to find his hand is still clenched around the necklace. Even if it’s painfully clenched. He clambers up the wall he was slammed into, dodging any lightning shot at him. He reaches the roof, all the warning he gets before he’s launched back into the alley walls is a crack of thunder. His body collides with the wall, and brick rains down on him, as well as the ground below. Which he then promptly falls onto, before brick starts crumbling down on him again. A particularly large piece slams down onto the hand clenching the necklace, and the remnants fall from his hand, the akuma being trapped inside his hand behind the miraculous.

As brick continues to rain down on him, he’s glad he was able to stop the akuma from causing further damage. He slips into unconsciousness with a smile on his face.

* * *

 

Nino is cursing his house for being so far away from Alya’s.

He’s also cursing himself for staying over so late. He had somehow, for some reason, decided to stay after school to finish up a project. First time ever. He just doesn’t see why he should stay after school. It’s boring.

Something less boring was going over to Alya’s. That was quite fun. He was, of course, able to see his girlfriend of a few months. He was able to see her little sister. She’s been adjusting to what had happened to her a few weeks prior. Being akumatized isn’t fun. Especially when the damage isn’t fixed right away. If ever.

Her bigger sister, Nora was also akumatized, but that was about a week ago. She’s having a bit of a harder time adjusting. Her body is still aching from being transformed into a human-spider hybrid. Her eyes are still a little sensitive, due to the concussion Chat Noir was kind of forced to bestow upon her akumatized form. She’s still a little pissed about that but is quite understanding about it.

Unfortunately, he had to head home around 19:50. Normally his house is usually about a thirty-minute walk from her home. So, when he was ten minutes into his walk, hearing a sudden crack of thunder, followed by screaming, he quite quickly deduced that his walk home was going to be much longer.

It was at about 20:20 when he was about halfway home, since he walked down many police sanctioned detours. Sighing, he trudged onward, the now constant thunder not fazing him in the slightest.

He still quite clearly remembers the day he first came face to face with Chat Noir. He was at least 4 inches taller than he was, which was a bit impressive, seeing as Nino was 5’6” at 15 years old. Chat Noir was extremely muscular, his suit leaving nothing to the imagination, despite being covered in protective padding. His eyes were bright green, completely green, except for the silted black pupil. Half his face was covered in a black leathery mask. This mask ended just above the tip of his nose, and spilled over either side of his face, all the way to cover his ears. The leather then spread to cover from the base of his skull up to his forehead. His mask covering the rest of his forehead. Metal lined the outside of the leather, as well as spread thinly across the mask and leather helmet like spider webs.

The rest of his body was covered completely with leather. His shoulders, biceps, and outside of his forearms sported silver metal pads for protection. His chest had leather padding lined with silver metal covering his left and right pecks, as well as his sides and down the middle, but had enough space in between to allow for uninterrupted maneuverability.

His back was covered in a similar fashion.

His hips sports padding like his chest does, leather lined with metal, sort of like American football players have at they’re hips. His thighs were also covered in kind. His skins and knees spited metal coverings, once again, with enough gaps to make movement comfortable. His boots were tipped with metal at the heels, and sported metal claws at the toes. The sides were lined with metal.

His hands had metal coverings for the knuckles, and fingers. The fingers were tipped with metallic claws. Seemingly to not be retractable. Around his waist was a black leather belt, which extended off of his body to be like a tail.

Atop his head sat two cat ears, with blonde hair poking out of the inside of them. His right ring finger held a black ring, with a neon green paw print on the flat circular surface of it.

On the inside of his left forearm sat a silver baton, with a neon cat paw on it, identical to his ring. This was his weapon. He used it expertly as a staff, sword, and thrown projectile.

He was extremely serious, his tone dark and dangerous. It held a certain power to it. A power only superhero’s have.

He was also extremely agile, fast, and strong. Being able to dodge and power through bullets, magic projectiles, and magical weapons full force without losing momentum.

A particularly load crack of thunder and a silver baton crashed right before his head before bouncing back into an alley. Reading back a bit, Nino takes a few breaths to regain his bearings.

Once mostly stable, he looks into the alley. In it, is the latest akuma. A guy with neon blue skin and thin, neon green lines running across his body like spider webs, with lightning surrounding him like a force field as well as periodically shooting off lightning bolts, was floating in the middle of the alley, while also periodically teleporting around Chat Noir.

Chat Noir has metal bars and strips wrapped around his arms, shoulders, back, chest, and legs. He was haphazardly throwing his batons around. He would sometimes have two batons. It was weird.

These metal bars and strips were glowing orange. As well as all the metal on his body. But he didn’t seem fazed by it. In fact, he was smiling.

Deciding he had nothing better to do and checking the time (20:54) he sat down and watched Chat Noir fight the akuma.

Watching, he falls back into his thoughts. Nino was really tired. But not to the point where he could fall asleep sitting down. Just tired enough that the second he hits his bed he would pass out. But looking at Chat Noir fight, he can only imagine how tired he would be. Two years ago, there was an akuma once or twice a month.

Then about six months in, they doubled. Then, a year ago, they were once or twice a week. It stayed that way until about three weeks ago. Where there was an akuma every other day.

Then about a week ago, they were daily.

Chat Noir always showed up to the attacks. Always within 20 minutes. Never any more than 20 minutes. Somehow, he also managed to keep the battles from lasting more than six hours. But there were more and more nearly-six-hour-long battles.

But it was always just Chat Noir. There was no other hero. Not even after this long. Always him. Everyone loves him. He somehow manages to keep damage to a minimum. And no one has ever been killed, (hurt yes, more than a few people have been hurt), which is astounding. So, astounding that his girlfriend decided to make a new site for akuma attacks and anything Chat Noir related: Le Fouillis

That had been about a month after he first started.

Suddenly, a memory that seemed to be suppressed, breaks through his subconscious momentarily. It's a memory of fighting alongside Chat Noir and some girl. Protecting them, and Alya, from a spider based akuma, that looked so similar to Nora’s akumatization. But it’s definitely not a memory, since Chat Noir never fought with anyone. Never allowed anyone to fight alongside him. Never mind protect him. And he was less protected. Less guarded. Easier going. More light hearted. His head was uncovered. No metal on him except for his baton. He took so many hits. So many hits. Like he was protecting someone. The girl. He was protecting the girl. The girl in... he can’t remember. It must have been a dream. Must ha-

A crack of thunder snaps him from his dream, and he’s just in time to see Chat Noir slam into a brick wall. His exo-suit gone from his body, now swirling around the akuma. Chat Noir’s body is crackling with electricity, his whole body spasming.

His chest tightens painfully. And an overwhelming urge to protect him surges through his body. So, he grabs whatever is closest to him, and throws it at the akuma.

A second later, a trash can lid slams into the electric aura, melting the lid without a problem. The akuma never even noticed him. Neither did Chat Noir. But at least he bought time for him. Maybe. Chat Noir sits up slightly, blinking his eyes open, his body having stopped spasming and crackling with lightning. Then his eyes widen, and suddenly, Chat Noir is clambering up the wall he was slammed into, dodging any lightning bolts shot his way. Right before Chat Noir reaches the roof, the Akuma stopped shooting at him and blinked from existence with a clap of thunder.

Nino never got to shout a warning to Chat Noir before the akuma reappeared and blasted him from the roof back down into the alley and slamming harshly into the brick wall.

As he fell, brick crumbled down onto him. A large piece of brick slams down onto Chat Noir’s right hand, and a sickening crack can be heard.

A purple light slowly fades from the roof, leaving a confused civilian to figure out how to get down, but that doesn’t matter. Rushing over, Nino starts yelling at Chat Noir. As brick continues to rain down on him, Nino gets closer. Close enough to see a smile on the Savior of Paris’ face.

He frantically starts clearing all the brick from the hero’s body.

With that done, he starts trying to pick up the fallen hero. But is unpleasantly surprised to find him to be heavier than Nino expected. Chat Noir was a very skinny guy, like that Adrien kid, but he seemed to weigh like 110lbs. He seems to be somewhere around 150lbs

Pulling Chat Noir into a sitting position with unexpected effort (not really) Nino starts to frantically shake. "Dude, wake up! We need you! C'mon!" The only reply he gets are sleepy murmurs that sound like "Milady.” Whoever that is.

Seeing that Chat Noir isn’t going to wake up any time soon, Nino shakily picks

him up and rests him on his shoulder, he then carries him from the alley into the street.

When a hand grips Nino’s wrist, he is so startled, that he almost drops Chat Noir. As he's about to scream, but a hand cups his mouth.

"Shh. Come with me. Quickly, we need to get him away from here." Nino sees an old Chinese man dressed in a Hawaiian shirt, and fishing shorts, standing not a foot away from him, his hand cupping his mouth, his other hand gripping his wrist.

There is no hesitation on Nino's part. He follows the weird old man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm doing my best to come up with more chapters to finish the story. I don't have a writing schedule or a posting schedule, so I'm not exactly sure when the next chapters will come out. Also, before I post new chapters, I’m going to be reviewing and adapting the current chapters to fit with what I want this story to be. I’m not opposed to constructive criticism, and I’m open to ways I could potentially improve my stories!
> 
> Thanks for reading, and enjoy what I have posted. Check out Miracu-less on Tumblr!  
> This is the post that inspired me, and yes, i did ask for permission to write this fic: https://miracu-less.tumblr.com/post/178247706383/heres-an-ml-story-idea-im-sharing-because-im


	3. Half-Reveals and Trying Times.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When you're a ghost you can go anywhere you want, but you also have to adjust to the new way of life. That can lead to you finding out things you probably shouldn't know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank goodness I got this chapter updated! Thank you to everyone who's read the first version of this chapter, and I hope that this one doesn't give you a headache!

Life was good for Marinette. She had two parents who loved her. No siblings to fight with or get tattled on by. Her grades were good, despite the past few years being Ladybug. She had three good friends, one of which she has a massive crush on. She has insanely old earrings that not only allow her to become a magical hero but gave her an also absolutely insanely old companion/friend, Tikki. With the powers that come with being a magical hero, she can save multiple people every week, sometimes more than once a week. She gets to save the city she loves with a boy who wears a magical suit inspired by a cat, bestowed upon him by a creature like Tikki. This boy gives her the support she needs to be the hero she is, at his own expense.

She was finally able to stand up to her long-time school bully when she became ladybug. She’s been getting better at that too, ever since she became one part of Paris’ Superhero duo.

So why had it turned around to badly?

She’s been with Master Fu and Tikki since _IT_ happened. No matter how hard she tried to touch or talk to them, they could never hear her. She could never touch them. She’s been forced into a horrible, isolated world, where she can see and hear everything happening around her but never interact with anyone or anything ever again.

That’s why she finds herself floating through the streets. Through people. She needed a fresh breath of air. She needed to see more than tan walls with red floral print. She needed to smell more than tea. Hear more than speculative things about her and the earrings.

She needed to feel alive again.

But floating through people, cars, and buildings doesn’t really help.

Stopping in front of the bakery that ~~is~~ was her house, she takes a few deep breathes. The people walking through her doesn’t help to calm her down.

Feeling steeled enough, she floats forward, reaching for the door knob.

Floating through doors instead of opening them like everyone else will never get easy.

Floating in the middle of the front space where you can look at what baked goods to buy, she looks around, a familiar sense of longing burning inside her.

All the pastries look as good as ever. The cookies, the tarts, the éclairs, the brownies, the cupcakes, the cakes, all of it. Everything looks like it usually did, only, something was... missing. All the baked goods had the signature look of Tom and Sabine Dupain-Cheng. But, looking closer at the goods, she finds what is missing. Her signature style of baking. Ordinary people wouldn’t notice, but as a baker’s daughter, it was a bit easier. The way frosting was applied. The way something looked just slightly different than the rest. A slightly different tone from baking.

She jerks back from the displays, ones she didn’t even realize she floated closer to, as she realizes something. The akuma (he never said a name or a purpose, only: “The only way for me to be noticed is for you to disappear.” It was strange and doesn’t make sense. She would know, she’s had a week to pour over her memories.) not only made her intangible, or eliminated her need to eat, drink, or sleep, (long story) but basically erased anything that involves her.

Oh, she can’t _wait_ to get back and permanently take down Hawkmoth.

Turning from those thoughts, she focuses back on the present. This is the first time she’s been back home in a week. It was just so scary to think that she could go home, and her parents wouldn’t not only not see or hear her, but completely forget about her. Not rely on her to help in any way because she isn’t there. It was just too much. It might still be too much.

Shaking her head to clear herself of those thoughts again, she turns to the counters.

Of course, there is a line of at least 10 people, she doesn’t really feel like counting the exact number. Maman, bustling between the kitchen (most likely belong out Papa,) and the register, making small talk with the customers. All normal. Papa, even though she can’t really see him, nor really wants to, is baking and frosting the goods, getting them ready to put on display to be chosen and eaten. Considering everything, she probably should t have been surprised by the fact that her parents have hired help, but it surprised her nonetheless when she saw uniformed people walking to and from the tables in the eating area and the kitchen. or to and from the kitchen to the displays. At least that means papa isn’t overwhelmed.

It doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt her just a bit.

Taking a few steadying breathes, she decides to try the one thing she knows won’t work. “Maman! Papa! I’m home!”

No one responds. No one shows any confirmation that they heard her.

Not that she expected any.

Sighing, she floats forward to and through the Employees Only door, the employees shouting orders and walking through her.

No, this is definitely not what she thought her life would end up being.

Trying her best not to get too depressed, she floats to the door that leads to up to the apartment.

She stops only when her foot phases through the first step. She stares at the stair, the bottom of her half just above the surface of the stair. With a light huff she floats back and closes her eyes, just now realizing that she has absolutely no idea how to traverse the stairs since she didn’t have to do that before at Fu’s

That’s when the reality of her situation really hits her, her eyes flying open. She can’t walk up stairs anymore.

She must learn to _fly_.

So, she does the reasonable thing that anyone who must learn to fly says: “Up!” She shouts

Nothing. It must be another phrase.

“Away!” She shouts.

Still no flying. She hasn’t moved in any direction.

How does one who’s learning to fly think about flying. What goes on in their mind that gets them to fly?

Despite she herself being a superhero, she doesn’t actually fly, her yo-yo does that for her, so she turns to the only superhero she can think of that can fly: Majestia.

How would Majestia fly? Does she just will herself to fly? Could she will herself to fly just like she could will off her transformation?

She’s never really thought about how she wills off her transformation, it’s always just sort-of happened.  Could she just picture her suit melting away?

Could she do the same thing with trying to fly?

It can’t hurt to try.

So, a little hesitantly, she closes her eyes, and pictures herself floating upward. She pictures it like she would a budding design.

At first, she feels just a little bit lighter. But she doesn’t open her eyes. Only focusing on getting up the stairs. Picturing herself floating up through the stairs.

Suddenly, her stomach drops, like when she would drop off the edge of a large building, or when a particularly strong akuma throws her, a short shriek escaping her lips, her eyes flinging open.

She didn’t expect to see herself floating in the air, half way through a step.

Looking down, she sees that she managed to get half way up the stair case.

Well, at least she knows how to fly now. She just needs to take it a bit slower.

Without closing her eyes, she wills herself to float up at a more reasonable pace. Within moments, she’s at the top, looking at the door to the apartment:

She allows herself a small half smile. She can fly now! That’s got to count as a victory. She’ll count it as a victory.

She takes a deep breath, steeling herself for what she would see on the other side of the door.

She instinctively reaches for the door knob, but her hand phases through it once again. _Right, I’m a ghost. I’m not bound by the same things normal humans are_ , she reminds herself: she finds she does that a lot lately.

She floats through the door instead of thinking on that more. It’s an odd feeling floating through something. When she thinks about what she’s floating through, she can practically taste it. It leaves a weird aftertaste of door or person for a few minutes afterward. Which is why she prefers to not think while phasing through something.

Once through the door, the weird door aftertaste fresh on her ghostly tongue, she looks around the familiar, small apartment.

The kitchen looks the same as when she left a week ago: pristine and clean. Nothing out of place. She can thank her Maman for that. The living room is the same. Just no game console.

Looks like Papa isn’t as much of a light spirit these days.

Looking to the wall beside the door she came through, she finds tons of pictures of her Maman and Papa with their respective families, and pictures of the families mixed in together. She doesn’t want to dwell on them, because they’re a painful memory of what she lost. Of what her parents lost.

Prying her gaze from the pictures, she floats to the stairs to her room - no, what was her room, trying to not dwell on the pictures. Unfortunately, her mind decides to dwell in the pictures, the traitor. While she refuses to look at them anymore, her mind can’t help but tell her that there aren’t any pictures of her. Which is extremely saddening, but not exactly surprising.

She really doesn’t want to think about it anymore, so she looks to the door to her room in search of a distraction. Luckily, it provides her with one.

The door is locked by a pad lock.

Why would it be locked?

This can’t be right. It looks like it’s an attic door. Like it’s been forgotten. But something’s off about it. Now, she’s forgotten stuff in her closet before. She’s also deliberately forgotten things in her closet. This looks like it’s been deliberately forgotten

Like it’s blocking something... something important.

She must check it out. It’s calling her.

Slowly, as her curiosity gets the better of her, like an uncontrollable force is pulling her by her collar, but also pushing her away, making her wary, she finds herself floating up to the door. To the lock. Floating up to go through the door to find what it’s blocking. One of her hands reaching out to the lock.

Just as her fingers are about to touch the lock, a sudden blur of black catches her eye.

Whipping her head around to pinpoint the black thing, she catches just a brief glimpse of the end of a black belt.

A smile slowly creeps onto her face. There is only one thing that is that shade of black, moves that fast, and has a black belt that flaps behind them. And that, that is her partner. Chat Noir.

A partner whom she hasn’t seen in about a week. Well, not really. She’s seen him come by to drop off akuma for Master Fu to purify. But he’s always only just dropped the akuma in the jar just outside the door to the parlor.

She wants to see how her partner is doing without her. 

So, she floats out the window, her mind too preoccupied by trying to find her partner to register the taste of glass and dust.

* * *

 

She’s snapped out of her thoughts as a sudden clap of thunder sounds throughout the room.  Fu moves to leave the parlor, Tikki asking why he’s leaving so suddenly. Master Fu reassures her by saying he’s just going to go check on something.

_He didn’t say that to reassure her, though. He doesn’t know she even exists._ She thinks just a bit bitterly. But her bitterness melts into sadness as she looks at Tikki. Her little features contorted in worry.

Tikki doesn’t deserve any of this. But she can’t figure out a way to reverse any of this. 

Reluctantly she fades back into her thoughts, as another clap of thunder sounds. This one slightly farther away, so it ends up more soothing than frightening. 

* * *

 

She has found Chat.

He looks different this time. His suit isn’t like hers anymore. (It was never really like hers, but this time it’s much, much more different.) His suit is no longer as smooth as it was before. It no longer has bulbous guards around his wrists and ankles. His tail isn’t the same either. She can’t even see a bell or the familiar mop of blonde hair. It is also no longer mostly black but marred with silver blotches on his arms and legs. This was probably the most concerning.

She stands corrected.

Getting a closer look, she finds much more discrepancies. Like, for instance, Chat Noir was extremely muscular, more so than he was before, his suit leaving nothing to the imagination, despite being covered in protective padding. It’s not like he wasn’t ripped before she disappeared. She even marveled at the muscles she managed to build after a few months, this - the amount he’s sporting now - is insane. It’s like a professional body builder who had been in the business for years, had been stuffed into the body of a 15-year-old. It was intense just looking at him.

His head was completely covered in black leather, and from what she could see from when he flipped around, the only skin that showed on his entire body while transformed was mouth, cheeks, and chin.

The leather helmet ended just below the base of his skull and ended just above the tip of his nose. Like his original mask was stretched out into a helmet. The helmet was lined by silver metal and spread across the entire thing like spider webs. Making it look sort of like fur. Atop his head sat his cat ears, but they were different too. (Really, the cutest thing about him was changed to look darker?! Why universe, why?!) The ears were black but were lined with the same type of metal as the rest of his head. The helmet seemed to have holes for the cat ears to move around freely, out of these holes poked tufts of blonde hair. _Okay, so maybe the ears weren’t that dark, maybe seeing tufts of blonde hair poke out of them made them look more adorable. But thats not the point._

Black, magical leather extends from the helmet to cover his neck completely and the rest of his body. On his shoulders, biceps, and outside of his forearms sit silver pads, spaced far enough to allow comfortable moment, but close enough to provide adequate protection.

His chest has leather padding lined with silver metal covering his left and right pecks, as well as his sides and down the middle, these also had enough space in between to allow for uninterrupted maneuverability. The leather pads have thin sliver lines spreading like webs across them all. His back was covered in a similar fashion.

His hips sport padding like his chest does, leather lined with metal, sort of like American football players have at their hips. His thighs were also covered in kind. His shins and knees sport metal coverings, once again, with enough gaps to make movement comfortable. His boots were tipped with metal at the heels, and sport metal claws at the toes. The sides were lined with metal also.

His fingers and knuckles have metal coverings. The fingers tipped with metallic claws. Seemingly to not be retractable. Around his waist sat his black leather belt tail, only the sides were encased in silver, and the end was pointed. From his belt, around his hip, hung a jar. She has no idea why he has a jar, since Akuma can phase through anything, but he has it.

His right ring finger, which is where his miraculous sits, has a black leather strip connected just under the knuckle casing and the ring’s band, then seemed to connect to his palm. It was hard to see, which would make sense. But she’s been Ladybug for nearly four years now, she’s been trained to look for nearly imperceptible details.

On the inside of his left forearm sat his baton. From what she’s seen before the Akuma a week ago, he could use it expertly as a staff, like a sword, and thrown projectile. He could also split it in two. Now, if possible, he seemed to be able to use it even more expertly. Like he’s the one who created all forms of martial arts.

He was extremely serious, his tone dark and dangerous. It held a certain power to it. A dangerous, dark, terrifying edge to it. Like he’s seen the worst of humanity and can never unsee it. A power only superhero’s have. A power she’s never heard before. He didn’t speak during attacks unless he had to. No puns. No quips. Nothing, and combined with the glimpses she got, (his eyes didn’t change. Which was good. But also, bad, because she could clearly see something dark behind them. Something that would chill her to the bones if she had her body, but literally made her feel 10 degrees colder. Which was impressive since she can’t actually feel cold or heat.) Made him even more terrifying.

He was also extremely agile, fast, and strong. Being able to dodge pretty much anything. The akuma he’s currently fighting seemed to be a heavy weight. A powerhouse. This Akuma (the Blacksmith, was it?) could form and use any weapon that has ever been, and that has been imagined. Literally so many weapons, she couldn’t count them all.

The akuma threw so fast and at such fast intervals, she thought multiple times that he had finally hit her partner. But Chat somehow managed to maneuver around it effortlessly. Like he saw everything in slow motion. Sometimes he even caught and swung the thrown weapon back at the akuma with much, much more force than it had originally been thrown. The weapon always melted before it hit the akuma.

When the weapons collided with the buildings around them, (which Chat had somehow managed to contain it to a small area which somehow seemed to be where other attacks happened) Chat caught the falling rubble with absolutely no effort. Seriously, this kid was jacked!

_Maybe_ , she thinks angrily at herself, _he’s always been like this. Maybe he’s always been so good at fighting but was never able to show anyone any of this because he had a partner to look out for. A partner to protect. He always protected her from danger, which made him look weaker._ It made her stomach fill with dread.

During this whole attack, Chat flipped/slid/caught multiple flying swords, hammers, mauls, and various other weapons. He was an unstoppable force that no one wanted to fight. Even the akuma seemed to be absolutely terrified of him.

Sliding around one last maul, he darts up close, so fast it looked like he teleported, and grabs the helmet from the Blacksmith’s head while kicking him hard in the gut. While the akuma is sent flying from the force of the kick, Chat lands with the grace of an angel, shouting “Cataclysm!”

_Wait... an angel. Why did that come out?_

Shaking her head, she returns her attention to her partner.

As the helmet crumbles from the destructive magic, he grabs the akuma that flits out with the hand that has the miraculous. It seems to not be able to escape his grasp.

He then grabs the jar from his hip, uncaps it, and shoves the akuma inside, then quickly recaps it. The jar seems to darken _. Maybe it’s enchanted?_

Sighing, he turns around, clipping the jar back onto his belt just as Alya runs up to him.

“What does Paris’ Spirit of Vengeance have to say about this akuma attack?” Alya says while shoving her phone into his face. Turning, his gaze seems to soften, but that dangerous glint seems to never leave.

“Stay out of the way. I can’t have anyone get hurt again.”

Then he unclips his baton from his arm, and vaults away.

Alya doesn’t seem to be taken by surprise by his short statement, her eyes softening into a sad look, watching him jump away.

“There you have it! Chat Noir, Paris’s Spirit of Vengeance, saving his beloved city once again. Catch you on the flip side!” Alya then turns off her phone and starts climbing out of the rubble.

But she didn’t notice. Because he said _again_. He doesn’t want someone to get hurt _again_. **_Again_** _. As in it’s happened before._

She floats after Chat.

She doesn’t believe he didn’t try to protect them. But people get stupid when there is a superhero around. Maybe they’re more cautious because he can’t return everything back to the way it was before, but apparently, there will always be stupid people. She thinks deludedly as she silently follows her partner back to Master Fu’s.

During this trek, she can’t help but reminisce about older times. When he was a lighter spirit, not burdened by being alone. She missed his easy, playful tone. His puns, no matter how horrible. His quips. He wasn’t the same, and it broke her heart.

She stops in the middle of the street while Chat Noir hurries inside. She wants to go inside, to see him. But it wouldn’t be fair. She just stands there in the middle of the street, focusing on the weird taste of metal and gas as cars pass through her. He comes out a few minutes later and vaults off onto a roof.

She almost follows him, but… she just can’t. It wouldn’t have been fair to him. So, she decides to stay at Master Fu’s again.

That was two days ago. 

* * *

 

 

Marinette is once again snapped from her memories, but this time it isn’t to thunder. Doors are slamming, Tikki is buzzing around frantically, with Wayzz doing the same.

Suddenly, the door to the massage area slams open, starling the kwami and herself, while Master Fu heads straight for a futon to pull it into it’s couch position.

Not far behind the master is…Nino! _Why is Nino here, has Master Fu finally decided to get Chat Noir a fighting buddy?_

“Chat!” she all but screams as she realizes that Nino is carrying a limp Chat Noir, who isn’t opening his eyes. “What happened?” she says forgetting no one can hear her. “I leave him alone for a day and he turns out like this?”

“Hurry!” Master Fu tells Nino, startling him out of his daze. “Over here.”

Nino places Chat Noir on the futon and takes a step back. Master Fu turns around and grabs the Fox Miraculous from the ancient container, which he somehow opened during the chaos.

Chat Noir’s ring lets out a few beeps, She should probably look away, but before she can tear her gaze away, a flash of green light temporarily blinds her.

And in Chat Noirs place, lays the sleeping, batteries, bruised form of her long-time crush.

Adrien Agreste.

“No, no, nononononono, no!” She screams. “No! This can’t be! He can’t be Chat!” But her screaming pleas fall on deaf ears. His kwami, (Plagg was it?), is laying on Adrien’s chest, looking utterly exhausted. His black body splotched in purple.

Then she goes emotionless. Sure, she hates that Adrien was Chat Noir because that not only meant that he is the brave, kind, clever, obnoxious, adorable, funny, leather clad superhero by her side always, and always made sure she could get the job done, while also supporting her in any way possible, but that he is also this dark, depressing, terrifying shell of Chat Noir. No longer a savior of Paris, but now dubbed as Paris’ Spirit of Vengeance.

He just can’t be that. She can’t accept it. But everything is telling her that it is the truth. So, her brain shuts off all emotion. Filing it for later.

She looks over to Nino. He seems to be completely shocked. But also seems to be taking the news better than she is. He also looks like his brain is connecting the dots finally. She gets the feeling like maybe her brain would be doing the same thing, only if it weren’t so accompanied with powerful emotions and memories.

Master Fu clears his throat and Nino startles at the sound. It had become uneasily silent.

“Ahem, I know this must be a lot of information to handle, but we need another Miraculous user. He is clearly not fit to fight for a while, and I am too old to be running around town in a super suit.” Master Fu explains as he unties his bracelet from his wrist. “This is the Miraculous of the Turtle. It has the power of protection. Use it wisely” He says as he hands it over to Nino.

Nino wouldn’t need the whole speech about the miraculous if he had been Carapace in this universe, but it seems to be that her partner was never allowed a partner. Which is downright stupid.

“Sir, I can’t, this is yours. I’m not fit to be a super hero.” Nino says, uncertainty lacing his every word, as he tries to hand the miraculous back to Master Fu.

“Of Course, you are.” Fu reassures him. “Otherwise I would not be handing this to you. I know you know you are perfectly capable of being a good user, unless your new-found memories serve you wrong?”

“How’d yo- “Nino is cut off by Master Fu holding out his hand.

“Do not question, it will only bring confusion.” Fu says with a wink. “Now go! You have a city to protect!” And pushes Nino out the still open door. “The phrase is Shell on!”

“Shell on?” Nino asks, then a flash of green and a scream from Nino. Then the sound of something falling to the ground with a thud.

Master Fu turns to Tikki, “Take care of Plagg please, he surely must be exhausted, while I go find a holder for the Fox.” Master Fu says, before walking out of the room.

Nodding, Tikki zips into Adrien’s shirt, then darts out with a chunk of what seems to be camembert.

Carefully holding a sleeping Plagg, who is too tired to even eat, Tikki starts to buzz softly. She’s only ever done that when Marinette was in a dark spiral because of Chloé, Lila, or Hawkmoth.  Nino is now running around Paris as the new user of the Turtle miraculous and Master Fu has left to go find a holder for the Fox Miraculous, she hopes it to be Alya.

Hovering over Adrien, Marinette finally lets emotion come back, and tears start to fall unbidden. “I wish I could touch you; I wish I could be there for you.” She says through her tears. “My poor kitty, fighting alone. At least you won’t be alone anymore…. Just stay alive. Bring me back so we can spend the rest of our lives together.”

_They believe the Ladybug Miraculous to be lost. It’s not lost, they’re still in my ears. Of course, they don’t know that, but still. How can I fix this?_ She thinks with renewed determination.

“I’m so sorry, Adrien. Please, just find a way to bring me back.” She says as her silent crying turns to weeping. “I... I…” Her voice breaks with another sob before she can make a confession or say anything else. 

* * *

 

 

It was weird. All Adrien could see for a while was red and black, with blue. Dark, raven blue, and bright, piercing blue. A voice like the heavens.

The only things he could make out were “kitty”.

 Then the dreams shift, and he can only make out crying and “please... bring me back.” The normally angelic voice sounded so broken, he can’t let that be!

So, as the dream seems to end, Adrien stirs. His eyes open only a crack, they feel far too heavy to open any further. He sees a girl. She’s just hunched over him, her hands hovering above his broken feeling body. She seems to be weeping.

Why is she weeping? Why would she be so sad? No random girl would be so sad to find him like this, would she. No, it doesn’t make sense. Not unless...

Yes, the only reason she could possibly be so sad about him is if she were his girlfriend. That’s must be it. Other wise, that would just be creepy.

His eyes are threatening to close again, but he fights against it, his girlfriend is saying something, and he needs to reassure her that he’ll be fine.

The only thing he can make out is: “-n please, just find a way to bring me back.” Then her voice breaks with yet even more sobs.

 His eyes are too tired to be open any longer, so he decides to close them. He wants to reach out to her, but his limbs are detached, which is concerning. Last he checked, he had limbs. This won’t due. He can’t leave her like this. He experimentally opens and closes his mouth. It seems to be in working order. He still needs to reassure his girlfriend before he drifts off again.

With determination, he murmurs “I…Promise….Milady…” before dreams carry him away again, feeling that what he said was good enough since his girlfriend seemed to stop sobbing.

All’s well that ends well, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I originally was planning on posting my chapters every day, I had two others at the time (chapters 2 and 3). But I ended up posting them all at the same time. I'm doing my best to come up with more chapters to finish the story. I don't have a writing schedule or a posting schedule, so I'm not exactly sure when the next chapters will come out. 
> 
> Thanks for reading, and enjoy what I have posted. Check out Miracu-less on Tumblr!  
> This is the post that inspired me, and yes, i did ask for permission to write this fic: https://miracu-less.tumblr.com/post/178247706383/heres-an-ml-story-idea-im-sharing-because-im


	4. Somethings Never Fade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes, when people try to erase all of your memory, some memories never go away. Sometimes these memories only surface when unconscious, and feel more like dreams.

As the words Adrien muttered reach Marinette's brain, she retracts her hand like it had been burned. The sudden movement moving some of Adrien’s hair but going unnoticed by Marinette.

_Milady! Milady! He said Milady! Does that mean he remembers me! Can he see me! Could he see me?! But his eyes were closed…. Did I imagine it? Is this a dream. It would make sense. Dreaming Adrien and Chat Noir are the same. I’ve seen Plagg before during Style Queen. So, it could make sense._

_But I’ve never seen Chat Noir detransform or transform. I’ve never asked Plagg about it before. Never wanted to. So, why would my mind correlate neon green with Chat? The only thing on him that is green are his eyes. Wouldn’t my mind try to use something else. The light for my transformation light is pink. Which is a lighter shade of red. And my suit is red. Wouldn’t my mind make his black or grey?_

_I’ve also never seen Tikki and Plagg together like this. I haven’t even heard Tikki talk with anything other than annoyance in her tone when talking about Plagg. I haven’t ever really heard concern for Plagg from Tikki. But… dreams are weird. Maybe that part is a dream._

But then Marinette sees Tikki stroke Plagg’s head with one antenna, and a faint purr come from Plagg. Tikki’s eyes full of concern, and some other soft, but indeterminable thing behind the concern.

No. No, this isn’t a dream. At least not for her. Her mind could never procure such a realistic look. Or dynamic between two kwami she has never seen in the same room except for after Sandboy and before her last encounter with Style Queen that day.

Adrien seems to be unconscious. Which means he’s either having constant dreams, or it’s all blank inside his head. That also mean he sleep talks… she can deal with that.

She looks down at her hand, clutched close to her chest. If he was having dreams, does that mean his subconscious remembers her? Does that mean his subconscious feels something is wrong?

_If so... that could mean he could potentially remember me!_

Then her brain, the sometimes-treacherous traitor it is, reminds her of what else he said. ‘I promise.’ echos around in her head. His voice soft, and hoarse.

If he said, ‘I promise.’ Does that mean he heard her? It doesn’t really make sense. She can’t quite remember when he promised her something that hasn’t been about his love for her, Ladybug her, that is.

Wait… isn’t it also true that people in comas can still hear people? Does that work the same way with unconscious people? It can’t hurt to try, right?

It only makes sense that he said that if he heard her, right? Even his subconscious can’t remember every conversation even if she were still tangible, much less if all memories of her have been erased. His subconscious couldn’t piece Milady and I promise together, right…? Right?

If that was the case. If he did hear her. That would mean… That means... she isn’t gone forever! She can come back!

He promised to bring her back. Her eyes widen as she realizes this.

Suddenly, she’s overcome with joy, jumping up from by Adrien’s side, hands flying through the air randomly, her ghostly body circling around and around and around, joyful screams and shouts filling all she can hear.

She comes to a stop by Adrien’s side again, both hands clutched at her chest above her heart.

“Oh, kitty. I love you.”

A moment of silence falls into place as her words register in her mind.

_Love?!_

…Well… is it wrong? She’s had a massive crush on Adrien since his second day at school. Chat Noir, her superhero partner, has been by her side through all of this, except for Style Queen (and any time he’s sacrificed himself to save her), which still doesn’t make sense to her. He’s just as important as she is. At least to her if no one else.  

He’s thrown himself in front of her so many times to protect her, how can she not love him. He’s the most kind, brave, and selfless person in the world. He’s had unwavering faith in her since the very beginning, excluding Volpina, Glaciator, and Frozer. They don’t talk about those. Don’t want to think about them.  

Yes. Yes, she lives her adorable, dorky, obnoxious kitty.

But maybe... a treacherous part of her brain starts to kick her optimistic sides butt, maybe that’s a nickname he has for a friend in this universe.

No. Her optimistic side stands up. He’s only ever called her “Milady” he would never forsake her by calling someone else that. Not even his subconscious would allow for that.

But he doesn’t remember you. The treacherous side says. You don’t know why he said that. You don’t know inside his head. You don’t know his life. In the other universe or this one. You don’t know his friends.

“Then I’ll get to know him!” She shouts, pushing back against her pessimistic side.

“I know him as Chat Noir. I know his life, even if it’s in a vague description. She knows he’s forced into working by his father. She knows he finally started going to school when he finally became Chat Noir. She knows he loves anything at the Dupain-Cheng bakery, especially the croissants. She knows he doesn’t have very many friends. She knows that the friends he has, he is extremely fond of. She knows that he gushes about them any chance he can get. Especially the one friend who is a budding designer.

Her eyes widen again, he’d been talking about her! All this time! He’d been gushing about her, to her face!

He’d proclaimed his love for her, only for her to reject him for himself.

She doesn’t know why, exactly, he had continued to go after her. It’s not exactly right and knowing that he’s Chat Noir doesn’t make it any righter. But it also doesn’t make her feel any better.

She’ll have to talk to him about all of this. Of course, after she kisses him senseless when he brings her back.

But of course, she’ll need to wait for him to bring her back. That could take forever. She’ll just have to help in anyway she can.

Sighing, she files away all her hope and joy, making sure to reserve it all for The Fay Adrien Brings Me Back.

For now, her pessimistic side wins over her consciousness, and she flops down onto through Adrien, not wanting to move and be reminded that everyone she knew and loved has totally and utterly forgotten her. So, she just lies there, half her body halfway through Adrien’s chest.

* * *

 

Tikki has been feeling like she’s being watched non-stop ever since she woke up in the street about a week ago. Well, nonstop until about two days ago when the feeling left her for just over an hour.

The feeling left her feeling significantly colder. So, having it absent left her almost too hot.

Sometimes, she could almost swear that she could hear some very, very faint whispers or sobs, but honestly, it could just be a trick of the wind. The air vents are a weird, and confusing thing.

She looks down at Plagg, his snoring just barely coming out his nose in the cutest of ways.

She’s been pretty much mindlessly petting and cradling Plagg since his chosen had been dropped off. Something in the back of her mind has been nagging at the very back of her mind. She has absolutely no idea why. It’s not exactly like the nagging when you forget something important. But similar. When she tries to think about it, an extremely painful headache bursts through behind her eyes.

She doesn’t know why, exactly, she started thinking about the cold feeling of being watched came to the forefront of her mind, but now that she’s actually thinking about it again... it hasn’t left since the time it had two days ago.

The almost whispers were almost constant while the cold was around them. But now, it had been so loud. Not clear, but like a breeze had been blowing through the windows, scraping plastic along the walls. Loud enough to be noticed, but too quiet to figure out if it was wind, or something unnatural.

Shaking her head, she starts to scratch her counterpart right behind his ears. Right where he like it the most. In the few minutes Plagg had been with her, but purple blemishes seemed to get slightly fainter.

Not too long after that, as she glances up at the chosen. From what Master Fu had told her, he had sent both the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous out at the same time, but the Ladybug has been lost. It’s only been Plagg’s chosen out there since then. Fighting all on his own. No one to help in combat. Only Master Fu’s purification spells managed to heal Plagg’s chosen so he wouldn’t be found out. And the enchanted jars able to keep the Akuma from multiplying. The chosen was badly beaten. Purple and black blemishes across his body. He doesn’t look to bad for one of Plagg’s chosen when they’re on their own. In fact, he looks like one of the best. He could probably go toe to toe with Heracles.

Suddenly, his eyes seem to be pried open, just slightly. A small hint of white and green peeking through. After about half a second, they slide close again, but his jaw moves. Barely noticeable, but it moves. She has no idea what he said, she doesn’t have the same senses as Plagg or his Chosen. But he said something.

Almost immediately, a few strands of his hair sway slightly, like a gentle breeze pushed them. Then, the vague whispering winds come back, barely for two seconds, but this moves his hair even more. Like how the air flow of one who is twirling around them would push hair around.

But the air vents have been open for a little bit now. They could be moving because, from what Fu said, the vents are circulating the air to keep the room at the desired temperature. That could explain why his hair moved.

Suddenly, his clothes move ever so slightly, his bangs and a few o’clock of his blonde hair around his face are puffed from his face the slightest of fractions.

Barely imperceptible. But, like her ladybugs, she’s been trained to look for the smallest of details.

That, however, could not be from the air vents. They would have moved the hair more. And, unless Plagg’s chosen were directly under the vent, a quick glance determines that is not the case, something not of this world did that.

There is something going on here, and the nagging in the back of her mind increases. Something important is going on here. Something isn’t right. She just can’t figure out what.

Deciding that this needs her to investigate, she sets Plagg down gently, and floats over to his chosen. If she looked closely enough she could almost see his clothes were…. Darker. Ever so slightly.

Like a shadow’s been cast on them, a shadow from something transparent. But it seemed to be the most transparent thing ever, that still somehow managed to be ever so slightly opaque. Though there is nothing around that could cast a shadow like that on him. His jacket is also wrinkled slightly in a way that suggests that there was some added pressure, that definitely wasn’t there before.

It was the most confusing thing ever. Not even her investigative skills, she invented investigation with Plagg, she and him have the most acute senses for details in the universe, could figure out why.

She’ll have to talk to Plagg about this.

Going back to Plagg she uses her antennae to caress his face in the way he loved, though he would never admit that. The tips briefly fade into nothing and phase through his face, earning a loud gasp from Tikki. 

* * *

 

 

Dreams are weird.

He’s been having dreams since the grey suited akuma a week ago. Though, maybe it’s been since he became Chat Noir. He doesn’t know.

Well, sort of... maybe. He remembers seeing the weeping form of a girl, possibly his girlfriend. But he doesn’t remember ever having a girlfriend. Hence why he doesn’t know if it was real or not.

But the other dreams. Those were significantly more confusing. They felt like dreams. But also like... something else. Something he just and quite pinpoint.

His ‘dreams’ for a lack of a better term, always started out the same. Sort of. He’s either studying for school, completing homework, fencing, practicing piano, at a photoshoot, watching anime, reading/watching something on a website... he doesn’t remember what it’s called, but he knows it’s a blog of sorts. It reminds him of Le Fouillis. But that wasn’t the name. It was focusing on someone else. Someone clad in red. His dreams would always cut him off there. Never allowing him to read anything on it.

Anyway, he then gets an akuma alert on his phone, or on the website. He, for some reason, always got weirdly excited as he calls for his transformation and launches onto the roofs to go search for the akuma…. And for someone else.

He never got excited for akuma. Which is why it must be a dream. But they don’t feel like dreams.

The second thing he really noticed that is different, is his suit. There is no protective padding. His baton is on his back. His suit is smooth, and his head is completely uncovered, unprotected. His ears are in the same place, but they feel weird without the leather helmet. Around his ankles and wrists lay bulbous guards. Up his front is a nonfunctional zipper, and up at the top, hangs a golden bell.

He looks ridiculous.

As he gets close to the latest akuma, he immediately starts fighting it, which is a rooky mistake. Completely unlike him, he’s been silently observing then interacting upon those observations for nearly three years now... right? He shouts ridiculous quips, puns and angers the akuma without a second thought. All the while grinning like an idiot.

He would then be yanked away from a seemingly fatal blow front he akuma, one he should have been easily able to dodge, by a yo-yo.

He would then turn to face this girl and is met with a weird blur. All he can see when looking at her, is Dark, raven blue hair, then a blue of red a blue. The only thing that isn’t a blue, are her eyes. The most captivating, determined, most piercing blue he has ever seen. He then grins all the wider. Not a hint of annoyance in his voice. He would then say something, ridiculous and cheesy, waiting for her response. He grins even wider, he’s hasn’t grinned like that since his mother left him, when this girl rolls her eyes and pushes him back, because he had somehow gotten very close to her. They discuss a plan and then launch off to fight the akuma.

Like they should have done in the first place.

She has a name. Everyone has a name. She definitely has a name because not only the akuma, (who he knows, it’s the bubbler one time, Story Weather another time, Anansi another time, Volpina, all the akuma he’s ever fought, but they’re different. Just slightly. He just can’t figure out why.) shout something that niggles at the very back of his mind, during the fight. The akuma demands not only his miraculous but hers too. The... bug one.  He can’t quite remember the name. The civilians are even more stupid. Which bugs him. Alya is even more reckless.

But it never matters all that much, because after the battle, everything is returned to normal. Immediately after the battle. Every time.

The civilians are also calmer. More collected. Less cautious.

While fighting the akuma, they are in perfect sync. Like they had been doing this their whole 17 year on earth. He feels a special connection to this girl and feels like he needs to protect her.

He’s never felt like that ever before. Sure, he’s felt responsible to protect Paris and the civilians from the akuma that Hawkmoth creates, but he’s never felt like he had to protect someone at all costs.

But his dream self knows for a fact that he needs to protect her at all costs. For some reason.

While fighting the akuma, he blurts out random things. Things he can’t remember. While In real life he would never take any blows while he fights the akuma, in the dreams, he takes all the blows to make sure this girl doesn’t get hit, because he knows she can’t be hit. He is expendable, she isn’t. Which doesn’t make total sense, but also makes the most sense in the world.

He knows that some people would take that as a sign of weakness, but it makes him stronger. Able to take stronger blows, and block even stronger ones. Because if he isn’t there to make sure she isn’t distracted from doing what she needs to do, then all of Paris will perish.

This girl would tell him when to use his Cataclysm. It was almost always used, just the way that she had instructed him. Which was weird, because he never used his Cataclysm unless he absolutely had to to end a fight. Sometimes he would catch her shout “Lucky Charm” as she throws up her yo-yo. Seconds later a red and black polka dotted item falls into her hand, looking to her for instructions he would wait patiently, protecting her as she comes up with a plan. Then when he is instructed, he distracts the akuma, or cataclysms something to aid in the fight.

When they break the akumatized item, this girl somehow opens her yo-yo, and throws it out to the corrupted butterfly, that flits out of the broken item. He watches as the yo-yo captures it, and a few seconds later, a pure white butterfly flies away.

She then throws the item they used in the battle into the air, and millions upon millions of magical insects’ swarm them, and the city. Fixing everything that had been broken during the fight. Healing bruises, restoring breathe, fixing Cataclysmed things, and fixing the broken akumatized item.

They fist bump and say something that he can never make out for some reason.

Sometimes he would have other dreams, where he would be out patrolling the city, but not all of it like he usually does. He just patrols part of it.

Sometimes he would patrol with that mysterious girl, laughing with her, making her laugh, as they jump around the city. He would sometimes catch her calling him “Kitty” and he would internally brighten, because he loved that name for some reason.

Sometimes he would call her “Milady”

Suddenly, the picture of the girl by his side come to the forefront of his mind, he called her “Milady.” The girl he thought was his girlfriend. If he called this blur of a girl “Milady”, then that means that she would be that girl. Who is possibly his girlfriend? Yes, now his actions make sense. She must be his girlfriend... right?

Right...?

At the end of every dream, when the girl flies away, he can’t help but think, who is she? Why is she so familiar? Why can’t I remember her and Dang is she amazing! All the while, feeling nothing but a longing to be with her.

In his latest dream, he is talking to her while on patrol. He says something, and she laughs, making his day so much brighter. She opens her mouth to say something, but all that comes out is a surprisingly loud gasp 

And he is suddenly falling away from her and that world, that seems all too familiar, into a more familiar world.

* * *

 

Marinette jumps back as she hears Tikki gasp, letting out a small gasp of her own, turning to Tikki. She’s floating just a few inches away from Plagg, looking at on of her antenna.

Heart rate slowing down, she turns back to Adrien, he seems to be settling down from jerking awake from a dream, as his eyes are half lidded, and let’s out a small groan of pain. His eyes look unfocused.

His head flops to the side, looking right through her to Tikki and Plagg. Tikki had resettled down next to Plagg But was now looking back to Adrien.

“I’m so sorry, how are you feeling Chat Noir?” Tikki asks, grabbing hold of Plagg and slowly floating over to Adrien.

She watches as Adrien’s eyes snap open, Tikki seemingly having been able to wake him up fully.

“Wh- “Adrien can’t complete his question when he coughs, but he powers through it. “Who- Who are you?” he says his voice a bit rougher than normal.

“I’m Tikki,” Tikki explains “I’m the kwami that belongs to the Ladybug miraculous.”

His eyes widen again, and his pupil seem to take up his entire iris,

“Ah.” Adrien says in understanding. “Where is the miraculous? Do you have a holder?”

“No,” Tikki says looking down, “I just woke up, no miraculous, no holder, about a week ago.”

“Oh...” Adrien tries to sit up, only to flop back down wincing in pain.

“So, how are you feeling Chat Noir?” Tikki repeats the question.

Adrien seems to realize that he didn’t answer her question earlier, and he flushes just a bit from embarrassment.

“Please, call me Adrien,” Adrien says politely, “I could use some pain killer, and some water, please?”

Of course, he’s still his perfect, polite, kind self, even when he’s startled, or embarrassed. Or recovering from a likely concussion

“Yes, of course” Tikki says, placing Plagg down on Adrien’s chest “I’ll be right back!” Tikki heads for the door to the bathroom.

“Though I’m not sure how long it will take” Tikki pauses by the door, waiting for his response.

“That’s ok,” Adrien murmurs, as he cups a hand around Plagg’s back and pulls him closer. He smiles softly as Plagg purrs softly due to the sudden warmth.

Marinette is silent as she takes in the view of Plagg purring while Adrien is cuddling him. 

* * *

 

“THAT IS SOOO CCCUUUUUTTTTEEEE!!!!!!!!” Marinette squeals at the sight, as her hands fly to cup her cheeks, then to suddenly fly to her mouth. “I am so glad that no one can hear me.” Comes her muffled voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I originally was planning on posting my chapters every day, I had two others at the time (chapters 2 and 3). But I ended up posting them all at the same time. I'm doing my best to come up with more chapters to finish the story. I don't have a writing schedule or a posting schedule, so I'm not exactly sure when the next chapters will come out. 
> 
> Thanks for reading, and enjoy what I have posted. Check out Miracu-less on Tumblr!  
> This is the post that inspired me, and yes, i did ask for permission to write this fic: https://miracu-less.tumblr.com/post/178247706383/heres-an-ml-story-idea-im-sharing-because-im


	5. Haunting 101

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being a ghost isn't very fun, especially when you phase through everything. When you find out that you can manipulate small things, your life gets a little bit more fun.

Marinette remains standing above the scene of Adrien snuggling a purring Plagg, the scene being _way_ too cute to pass up engraving into her mind. After a few seconds she finds that it’s become mostly silent again, _a.k.a. She is no longer squealing._

With a pleased smile on her face, she looks a bit closer at the two. Adrien’s blemishes seem to be slightly fainter. Like the black was darker and now it’s just a lighter black, the same with the purple.

Plagg’s blemishes seem to be lighter too. But maybe that’s due to Tikki. Maybe Tikki is helping them both.

Feeling like not all is dark and horrible in this universe, she turns to go try and help Tikki in any way possible.

She floats a few feet before stopping. Master Fu is old. Very old. Don’t older people tend to keep medicine in the bathroom, instead of the kitchen.

Sighing just slightly, she turns around and floats to the bathroom. Luckily, Master Fu left the door open, now she doesn’t have to taste weird wall paper again.

Stopping in the middle of the little bathroom, she realizes that she has no idea how to help Tikki. Her hands are just going to phase through everything. Tikki can’t hear or see her.

Heaving a great sigh, she hangs her head and crouches down. “Ugh!” She half screams, “This is too annoying!”

In her stupor, she misses how Tikki jumps ever so slightly, and whips around to look around the room, her eyes wide.

Deciding that if she isn’t going to be of any help, she might as well go be of no help over by Adrien and just coo over the cuteness of Plagg.

Sighing once again, but this one slightly depressed, she stands from her crouch and spins around to float out of the room, not caring if she floated through something. But sudden movement catches her eye. Stopping dead in her tracks, she slowly looks over to where the movement came from.

And she’s just in time to see a loose square come to a stop from it’s slow swinging.

Cocking her head to the side, she floats over them bends down to examine it, trying to think of any explanation of why it would have been moving. Tikki is clear across the room. So, she couldn’t have caused it. The air vents don’t seem to on in the bathroom at the moment, so no new air circulation. If the vents were on, the square would be moving constantly, seeing as the roll of toilet paper is right next to the vents.

Could she have caused it? It sort of makes sense. She’s the only thing that moved sporadically enough to make anything move. Even if she could make anything move.

It couldn’t hurt to test out a theory, right?

Having nothing better to do, she leans in close, sucking in a breath of air.

No movement from the the square.

She breathes it out in slow, controlled pace.

The square sways ever so slightly.

She gasps. _This is good! This is really good!_

She huffs out another breathe.

The square moves even more!

She can interact with this world, even if it is in the slightest of ways. It means she isn’t completely gone, and she can come back!

She lets out a celebratory cheer as she straightens up.

Suddenly, a thought comes to mind.

Slowly, she turns to Tikki, who is still rummaging around in the medicine cabinet.

A smile creeps it way onto her face. “Oh, this is going to be fun!”

Slowly walking up behind Tikki, she begins to suck in a steady stream of air, making sure to have as much of it in her lungs as possible to make sure this works.

Getting within inches of the still searching Tikki, she holds her breathe, maneuvering to the best position to make this work in her favor.

Once in position, she starts to let out her stored breath in a steady stream. She watches with amusement as one of Tikki’s antenna twitch, not letting up in stream intensity.

After a half a second, Tikki reaches up to scratch at her head, maybe she thinks her head is just itchy?

Another half second later, both her antennae twitch.

Tikki reaches up to settle them.

All the while, Marinette’s smile is reaching further and further across her face, her stream of air coming out in shorter bursts as her laughter begins to bubble out.

Tikki then whips around, one of her paws lifted as to point as something, but her eyes widen as she seems to see nothing.

At this Marinette can’t hold it in any longer and she doubles over laughing.

After a few seconds, she decides she could be of some help, and as she wipes a stray tear, she starts looking through the cabinet, as Tikki slowly turns around, clutching her antennae to her head, her lips set in a thin line.

She just can’t bring herself to feel sorry. Maybe that’s how Chat feels whenever he messes with her.

She finally gets the appeal of doing things like that.

Within seconds, she finds the Tylenol on the very top shelf, Tikki was still rummaging through the middle shelf, though more slowly now. Only using one paw to check the labels.

She reaches up for it, only to have her hands phase through it.

Right, can’t touch anything. She retracts her hand as Tikki starts to get to the end of her search on the middle shelf.

Scrunching her face, she hesitantly reaches out her hand to hover just below Tikki.

Slowly, she starts to raise her hand.

She did not expect to see Tikki slowly being raised by her hand.

She also didn’t expect Tikki not to notice, for when Tikki finally looked up, she saw the bottle of Tylenol and grabs it, before quickly dropping to the counter and uncapping the lid, grabbing a tablet, and darting to the door.

She watches with curiosity as Tikki stops at the door frame, and looks back at the bottle, looking a little more than hesitant to go back to it.

Tikki releases a sigh as she darts back to it, and reads the label on the side, looking for something. She finds what she was looking for and dives into the bottle to get a second tablet, then setting them down on the counter, she recaps the bottle, then quickly sets the bottle back on the second shelf before zipping to the tablets and out the door.

Marinette is left standing in the middle of the room, in Tikki’s metaphorical dust, “...That was weird.” She mutters before floating out the door

Once out the door, Tikki’s much less frantic. Maybe she does feel bad about messing with Tikki. But she had to know if she was imagining things or not! It’s was for scientific purposes. Purposes to get her back!

Nonetheless, she made Tikki feel unsafe. She probably shouldn’t do that again.

That doesn’t mean she can’t try to do other things. Or that she won’t do it again just to remind herself that she isn’t completely gone.

Tikki has dropped the two tablets onto Adrien’s chest, he had fallen asleep again, bless his soul, he deserves that rest.

Floating after Tikki, she stops by Adrien’s side once again. His blemishes seemed even lighter. Same thing with Plagg. They’re still there. But maybe in order for them to heal faster, they had to be together. It makes sense.

Continuing to help Tikki, she follows her into the kitchen. In the kitchen, Tikki stops and looks around, her face scrunched up. It looks like Tikki has no idea where the cups are. Never mind, disposable cups.

While Tikki starts looking through the cupboards for a cup she can easily carry, Marinette starts looking for the paper cups, because they should be light enough for Tikki to carry while full of water, and to test the limits of the things she can potentially manipulate. Plus, they’re disposable. They won’t be missed.

Looking around the dimly lit room, she finds the paper cups close to the kitchen door. She floats over, giving herself a mental pep talk. _You can do this!_ The optimistic side of her brain cheers, _you are going to come back, and everything is going to go back to normal!_

_But what if she can’t even handle a paper cup?_ The pessimistic pipes up. _If she can’t do that, how is she supposed to help get herself back?_

_Oh, stick a dumpster sock in it!_ Shouts her optimistic side, _she doesn’t need you!_

_Harrumph,_ says her little pessimist, _see if I care. It’s not like she’ll be stuck here **forever**._

The sarcasm was clear in the little she devil’s voice.

_It’s okay!_ Soothes the optimist _, don’t listen to her, she’s just jealous. You can do it! I have faith in you!_

Somehow, the optimist sounds like a mixture of herself and Tikki, while the pessimist a mixture of herself and Plagg.

She decides to call her little shoulder Angel and Devil, Optinette, and Pessinette, according to their respective personalities.

Looking back at Tikki, she sees that she’s phasing out of one cupboard into the other. It looks like she’s gone through at least three cupboards now.

Smiling at the conversation her little shoulder entities had, she moves toward the cups. Getting close, she taps the side of one of the stacks. And it moves. Slightly. Like, half a millimeter, at the absolute most.

“ _YES_!” She practically shouts, then her hand phases through the stack, half her finger sticking out the other side.

Oooooo… kay… maybe her emotions are tied to her phasing abilities?

Calming herself down, she tries to grab the top of the closest cup, but her hand phases through.

She tries again. But her hand seems to be too stubborn.

Okay, maybe emotions are part of it?

Maybe… maybe she also needs to picture herself grabbing the cup, like she does when she’s flying?

So, doing her best to replicate what she did in order to fly, she sets her hand above the cup, and closes her eyes.

Remembering what it felt like to pick up a cup, she rests her hand on the cup. Peeking open one eye, she sees that her hand is resting on the cup.

Feeling her joy spike, she closes her eyes again and continues to remember, grasping and lifting up the cup.

She takes a moment to remind herself that she is holding a cup. _She is holding a cup!_

Her hand slips slightly, and she takes another calming breath.

She pivots on her heal to the left, ever so slowly.

She stays motionless for a second before sliding an eye open,  

_It’s still there! I can grab things! I am not lost to the void for all eternity, forced to watch my friends and family live without me for the rest of their lives._

…She may, possibly, be a little over dramatic about it, but still!

She takes a step away from the stack of cups. A very, very slow step. Her hand is stiff and beginning to become painful. But she pushes forward.

Lifting her other leg to take another step, her hand craps becoming like an unresponsive prosthetic.  the cup slips from her now icy, unmoving fingers.  

As the cup lands on the floor, making a hollow, dull _thunk_ , a surprised gasp comes from Tikki’s direction and she sees Tikki phase through a cupboard door and locate the fallen cup. The tiny, red being just narrows her eyes at the cup as she floats toward the cup, raising her tiny paws in defense. Marinette can’t help but giggle at the sight of the barely 2-pound goddess raising her tiny paws in imitated defense, like she’s ready to pummel an akuma into the ground.

Marinette giggles even more when Tikki picks up the cup with a look of wariness still on her face as she inspects the cup.

Still not relenting in wariness, Tikki floats to the kitchen sink backward, casting wary glances all around the kitchen. Her eyes searching for a threat, but not seeing the person who moved with the cup.

As Tikki’s back hits the faucet, Tikki startles a bit, her paws clench the cup tighter, causing the cup to release a plastic-y crinkling that only the plastic cups can make, as she whips around to look at the faucet.

After a second, Tikki releases a relieved sigh but tenses up again. Slowly, she turns around, the cup still in her hands but not held as tight, and her face scrunches up in confusion and caution.

For a few seconds, Marinette stands in the middle of the room, rubbing her still stiff but now slightly moveable hand. She can’t help but hold her breath. _Maybe Tikki’s seen me? Had a glimpse of me. Something? Anything!_

...but the Universe seems to like to let her get her hopes up before ripping them to shreds.

With a relieved sigh, Tikki turns back to the sink, Marinette releases a disappointed but unsurprised sigh as well, before floating over to float beside the sink. Beside Tikki.

As Marinette gets to Tikki, she sees Tikki place the cup in the sink and try to maneuver it to under the faucet, but her paws fade into nothingness, her arms jerking forward before the solid part of her arms meet the cup.  

“Tikki!” Marinette shouts as she lunges toward the kwami, fully intending to comfort the kwami but her arms only phase through her again.

Stepping back, Marinette watches sadly as Tikki looks completely dumbfounded at her arms, then tearing her gaze to look where her arms meet the cup. She pulls her arms away from the cup, but where her paws used to be, is nothing.

Suddenly, Marinette realizes something, and she jumps back a few centimeters. Tikki’s dealing with what she is currently dealing with, but at a more diluted state. Tikki has no idea what is happening. Or why it’s happening. _She’s_ causing her kwami pain and discomfort. Maybe she should just leave. Find whatever is keeping her tethered here and destroy it, before Tikki is no more.

Her earrings then become colder. Burning her earlobes. Weighing them down. Feeling like a thousand tons. With the earrings, she ca- could transform into ladybug. But they are stuck in her ears now. Lost to the void with her, and she’s unwillingly bringing her kwami with her.

But… They seem to possibly be the only thing tethering her to this world. If she has any chance to return to this world, she needs to keep the earrings with her.

As she reaches up to her earrings, Tikki’s paws return to the world and Tikki tries to grab the cup again, and this time, she’s successful. Breathing out a sigh of relief, Tikki scoots it into position under the faucet. The earrings are cold to the touch. But they also seem to burn her fingers. While also possessing a type of gravity, making it impossible for her to remove her finger from the magical stone stud.

Maybe, if they move fast, they can get her back and return everything to normal. She could stop this.

She _must_ stop this.

With a resolute nod, she decides she is going to do whatever she can to help bring herself back to the world.

The sound of water hitting plastic rips her from her thought. Tikki is waiting by the faucet while the cup is filling with water. When the water nears the top, Tikki pushes against the handle to stop the water, then floats down to it, taking a few deep breaths then lifts it up, like when Marinette gets ready to carry something heavy.

Floating up carefully, Tikki peers around the cup at her paws. Finding nothing wrong, she starts carefully, steadily floating back to Adrien.

Marinette, however, remains standing by the sink, trying to wrap her head around what had just conspired. One) she found out that she can interact with this world, even if it is in the smallest of ways. Two) Tikki is starting to suffer part of what she’s going through, with parts of her tiny body fading into this limbo that has become her life. Three) she can’t interact for very long, otherwise whatever part of her body that was interacting will become stiff and immovable. Four) her earrings are keeping her tethered to the world, making it possible to come back, but her time is running out.

She rubs her earrings. They are the only thing keeping her from fading completely. But they are also the thing that is causing her constant companion to suffer, and potentially meet the same fate as her. Maybe even worse.  

…If she just...

No. No, she can’t think like that. Adrien promised to bring her back and she’s finding is easier to regain hope of coming back to this world. She promised herself that she would find a way to return.

But… the longer they wait, the less time Tikki has and then the Ladybug miraculous will be lost forever, and everything will become unbalanced. The universe will end, because you can’t have a universe without creation.

Straightening from a hunch she didn’t realize she had slumped into; she nods determinedly. She _will_ be brought back. They _will_ _not_ lose her, nor will they loose Tikki or the miraculous.

She _will_ come back to her parents, and she _will_ be hugged by them and she _will_ hug them back. While probably weeping.

Feeling like she can do whatever it takes now, like she is unstoppable, she floats back to the massage room, where Adrien, Plagg, and Tikki are.

Adrien is propping his chest up by his right arm, Plagg nestled in the crook of his neck on the left side, the plastic cup left discarded on the floor beside the futon, and Tikki resting on the arm rest across from Adrien.

They seem to be talking about something important.

Thinking it best not to intrude, and best to try to investigate now how to bring her back, she turns to leave the room, but a flash of green makes her stop. Turning around, she finds Plagg to have opened an eye, staring right into her eyes.

A moment passes, and Plagg nods to her, disguising it as wanting to find a more comfortable position, before closing his eye again.

She just stands there, completely shocked. Her body trembling. Plagg had seen her. Had looked her in the eyes and nodded to her. _Plagg had seen her!_

She closes her eyes, and files that for later. Right now, she has a mission to accomplish. She turns and floats to the waiting room of the massage parlor.

There has been a sort of gravity she hasn’t been able to ignore completely since she found the locked door of her parents’ attic a few days ago. A force that’s been pulling her. Calling her. So, feeling like it’s the right thing to do, she gives into the pull, and lets her body start moving with the gravity.

Whatever is in the attic is important. Something no one should see. And that something is calling to her. It might be the only thing that can bring her back.

Floating through the door and into the street, she lets her mind wander. A smile spreads across her lips as her mind goes Chat Noir, and his adorable obnoxiousness. Maybe he’s felt compelled to go to her, maybe that’s why he’s so flirty with her. Or maybe not. It’s just fuel for their talk later.

Suddenly peace washes over her. She will be okay. She will get through this.

With that, she lets her mind go to white noise.

What would have been a 20-minute walk, if she were in her physical body, turned out to be a mere 2-minute flight.

Being able to not only fly, but phase through people and buildings was a big help. Though, there were a few things that she had seen that had ripped her from her thoughts. She will never be right again from what she had seen.

Shuddering from the thought, she finds herself at the stairs that lead to her room.

Standing there, she can practically feel the force as a tangible hand, pulling her centimeters by centimeters.

Slowly, she starts to lean into the pull, and gradually, she starts gaining momentum.

As she nears the door, the pulling force morphs into a repelling force. But it isn’t enough to stop her movement, as she finds herself being slingshot from the stairs, through the door, and into the attic.

The attic, that was once her room, or maybe never was, seems to be simultaneously calling her and screaming for her to go away. Filling her head with intense headaches.

The walls seem to be radiating a dark aura. Some sort of protectiveness. They seem to be oozing darkness, but it never reaches more than a foot from the wall.

It’s a weird feeling, she’s seemingly being pulled and pushed at the same time, not able to move in any direction but down through the door, or up through the ceiling. Not even able to turn around. Like she’s stuck in an invisible testing tube, with foam surrounding her body.  

With much resistance, she turns around, taking in everything in the room.

Firstly, it’s filled with boxes. The next thing she notices, are the bed frames, picture frames, and Holiday decorations.

It looks nothing like the room she lived in.

The windows are locked, the curtains drawn.

Looking up to the trap door she often used, she finds it locked too.

It’s as if her parents don’t want anyone to find any of this. It’s like they don’t even want to remember any of it anymore.  

Nothing here seems to reveal anything on how to get her back. But the entire room feels weird. _Something_ is hidden here, but she _just can’t_ figure out _what_.

Turning, and being almost pushed towards the trap door of which she had floated through, she starts floating toward the door. But a blob of bright color catches her attention.

Turning with even more difficulty, like the room was filled with a thick molasses, she sees it, the thing that caught her attention.

It’s a…

Baby crib? 

* * *

 

 

Still being careful of the water in her paws, and just in case her paws decided to spontaneously disappear again, Tikki flies just a little bit faster over to the arm rest by Adrien’s head.

Setting it down, she breathes out a sigh of relief. No water spilt, and her paws didn’t disappear again.

Floating over to Adrien’s face, she pats him gently, and he slides his eyes open.

“I’ve got everything you needed.”

“Thank you, thank you so much... Tikki, was it?” Adrien shifts his weight over to the right and with his left hand, he shifts Plagg to the crook of his neck on the left side. Clearly, he isn’t ready to separate from him yet.

Propping himself up on his right arm, he slowly, because he doesn’t want to disturb Plagg (bless this child’s life), reaches over his shoulder to grab the cup before placing it in his other hand against his side and reaching over for the two tablets.

She floats back to settle down on his leg, she looks to Plagg and his chosen... Adrien, she believes, with concern. The Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous holders have always worked in tandem. One never without the other for long. If one dies in combat or from age, the other finished the combat and retired the miraculous, or followed through entwined destiny. So, to see this kitten go for, what was it, nearly four years without a Ladybug by his side was astounding. From what she remembers, only Heracles managed to do such a feat. But he was also aided by the other miraculous. This boy, he doesn’t even have that luxury. He’s been doing all on his own, with minimal help from Master Fu.

“What?” Adrien’s voice pulls her from her thoughts, but his voice is purely curious, with a hint of amusement.

Such a _kind_ soul. She allows her gaze to grow soft.

“I’ve just been thinking. You know that the Ladybug and Black Cat have always, mostly, worked in tandem, right? One never without the other for long.”

“That’s what I’ve been told.” Adrien then sets the cup, probably empty, down on the floor.

“Yes, but have you ever heard of Heracles? Also known as Hercules?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard the myths.” Adrien’s head is cocked like the curious kitten he is.

“He was one of Plagg’s kits.” A fond smile spreads across her lips at the memory.

“Oh…”

“You’ve heard of the Black Plague, right?”

“Yeah, it was a disastrous disease that killed millions.”

“Caused by one of Plagg’s kits while fighting a great evil.”

Adrien’s eyes widen at that, and he glances down at the ring sitting on his finger.

“Polio was also caused by a fight by one of Plagg’s kits.”

Adrien slouches down just a bit, his eyes looking up to Tikki in silent question. A question she’s heard many a time. One she’s seen in the eyes of Plagg kits all the time since they found out _. ‘If they could cause such devastation, why am I wielding the one thing that can allow it to happen? What’s stopping me?_

She makes sure to turn her smile into one of reassurance.

“Dragons were wreaking havoc on the human race many, many millennia ago, one of Plagg’s wiped them and they’re danger from existence.”

“The great monsters from any mythology were largely eradicated by Plagg’s chosen.”

“Plagg’s chosen can use destruction to cause utmost devastation, but also to bring peace. Most of the time, the devastation came from a noble fight and consequential death of one of Plagg’s kits. His powers are extremely diluted when the miraculous is wielded by the wicked. The ones who do wield it while with wicked intents are cursed.”

“If you have not died within the first year of wearing his miraculous, you are one of the many good ones.”

Adrien slumps again, but this time in relief, then he perked back up to listen to more.

“A more recent one was General Bushwhack over in America,” at that Adrien seemed to snort, “in the 1800’s, He served justice to those who deserved it, and he was merciless while doing it. Once he was ordered to exterminate a village, town, or city, he would leave none from the place standing. Nor any buildings”

“The most recent was during World War II.” She raises one of her non-existent eyebrows at Adrien’s raised eyebrow. “Do you really believe such a man like Hitler decides to commit suicide?”

Adrien rolls his head to the side in an agreeing manner, then sets his head back upright.

“What does this have to do with the Ladybug miraculous?” Adrien asks.

“All of these were done while the Black Cat was without the Ladybug.” Is Tikki’s response, her voice laced in admiration.

“The Black Plague was initiated upon the death of a Black Cat, which was nearly immediately after they eradicated the foe they were fighting at the time. The Ladybug had been killed mere moments before. They couldn’t find a right fit for the ladybug until about 1350.”

“Same thing with Polio, in 1916. But the right Ladybug wasn’t found until 1953. Of course, at the time, they wouldn’t credit a woman with the vaccine, much less a mysteriously clad woman who hid her face.”

Adrien seemed to roll a hand into a fist. _Good_ , she thinks, _he isn’t against powerful women._

“Anyway, this all ties together, I promise. Heracles did many great things without a Ladybug. Many honorable things. Of course, he had to hide why he was so strong and able to do the impossible, so he said he was the Demi-god son of Zeus, a god the civilians of the time worshiped, among others. But he had the help of other miraculous welders. Ones I cannot tell you because I was not active at the time. -“ she raises a paw as Adrien opens his mouth to say something. “But you, you have been doing all of this on your own. Without any help from other miraculous. I believe you could go toe to toe with Heracles himself, and possibly even beat him. I’m sure he is proud of you. Not only Heracles, but all the good past holders of the Black Cat. And Plagg.” Her gaze darts over to her counterpart momentarily, looking for any sign of agreement. She finds her answer when Plagg discretely nods against Adrien’s neck. “ You are truly one of the best, if not the best.”

“...I-wow... thank-“ Adrien’s voice cracks from emotion, his eyes welling up. “Thank you. That means a lot to me. So much to me.”

He reaches out to scratch her head, then to shuffle her to cuddle up with Plagg, shifting him onto his chest once more as he lays back down.

It was probably the kindest thing a Black Cat has done when they were down. Letting her rest with her counterpart while also resting with their kwami.

Her eyes burn slightly with emotion as she lays beside Plagg on Adrien’s chest. She will hold this kit with utmost respect inside her head. She hopes Plagg does too.

“How’s it been going for you and Plagg?” Her voice comes out soft, and wavering. But she can’t help it, this kid is just too good.

“It’s been a bit rough, considering that I can’t purify akuma, so I have to jar up the akuma in special enchanted jars, and Hawkmoth sends out his akuma at the most inconvenient of times, multiple times a week.” Adrien eyes slide closed, but he doesn’t seem to be going to sleep.

“Master has been able to purify a few with some spells, but he just can’t do it fast enough, or efficiently enough.” Adrien continues.

“Oh…” Tikki says somewhat dejectedly,” Wait!” Tikki suddenly perks her head up to look into the eyes of a slightly startled Adrien. “I can purify the akuma! It will take a bit more energy out of me when I do it instead of my welder, but I can still do it faster, and in much larger quantities!”

“That’ll be great!” Adrien seems genuinely happy to get some help. “What do you like to eat? I can get plenty of what you need to recharge.”

“I like chocolate chip cookies, but anything sweet will do.” Tikki says looking happily into Adrien’s eyes, which had softened and started to slide closed again, her own head slowly falling next to Plagg again.

“So, on a completely different note,” Tikki starts after a small pause. “Have you noticed anything weird lately?”

After a short pause, Adrien opens one eye and starts with when it all began. “I’ve been having weird dreams since I became Chat Noir about four years ago, but I can’t remember any details. But, it really all started getting weird a little bit ago. It was the day the weird akuma showed up, about a week ago. I was walking up the steps to school, when I got a splitting headache, then something unsettled me, which always happens when akuma are formed. Eventually, I started going after this weird akuma, it didn’t say anything about the miraculous or what its name was - speaking of which, we need to give it a name - anyway, I took it down quite fast, then I got another pounding headache, and paused for a little bit.” The akuma had nearly gotten away but Tikki didn’t need to know that. “I’ve been getting headaches ever since then, and I often felt like I am forgetting something, but the headache only increases in intensity when I think about it. Then I was getting more and more tired, Plagg too, after akuma attacks. That hasn’t happened ever before.” Adrien pauses as he thinks more. “Then before a woke up, I was having some weird dreams, these ones I still can’t remember, but I do remember how they felt. They didn’t feel like dreams, but... something else. I can’t remember it though.”

“Hmm, that’s…. interesting, but not what I was talking about.” Tikki looks up and smiles just a bit when she watches Adrien flush slightly. “I was thinking more along the lines of things moving on their own, weird noises, and unexplained wind.”

“Oh, no I haven’t. Though I do feel a little colder than usual sometimes.” Adrien explains, then a blurry memory surfaces. “Well, that one time I woke for just a bit, a few hours ago, I think I saw a girl. She was weeping above me. I said something, but I can’t remember.”

“Hmm.” Tikki hums contemplatively. “Well I don’t remember seeing a girl there.”

“Weird” Adrien replies, scrunching up his face in slight confusion and thought

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Constructive criticism is welcome, I'd very much like to become a better writer. Also, if you find any typos, please tell me.


	6. Cat's Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette finds something that could possibly help bring her back. When she returns to the massage parlor, she wasn't expecting to start believing that cats could see the unseeable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, this is one of the shorter revisions. I just couldn't find much to flesh out. Anyway it's going to be a little bit before I get the seventh chapter revised and posted. Enjoy!

A...

A baby crib.

A pink baby crib.

In her parent’s attic, the room that used to be hers.

In a universe where she doesn’t exist.

Yet, her parents have a pink baby crib.

The molasses like force that was surrounding her snapped out of existence, her ghostly body stumbling forward. No poof, no sound. It was there, making it nearly impossible to turn around, one moment, and the next, just gone.

**_Like you, except you can remember it._** Pessinette whispers to her.

Marinette’s finding it increasingly easier to hate little her Pessinette.

Shaking off Pessinette’s hurtful words, she focuses back on how weird the crib is.

How weird it _feels_.

Before, the crib seemed to be calling her. It was pulling her, ever so slightly. But, now?

Well, now it seems to be screaming at her to come closer. Like its pulling and pushing her toward it.

Like a miniature star, it seems to have its own gravitational force.

It’s a weird thing, to feel like you are being moved while you are, in fact, not moving.

Maman didn’t seem to be pregnant, she also didn’t see any framed pictures of kids in the hallway, (the only exemptions being the nieces and nephews), that looked like the offspring of a specific petite Chinese woman, and a big French man.

_Maybe she’s just a few weeks pregnant?_ Optinette suggests timidly.

Before she agrees with Optinette, Marinette floats toward the crib and upon inspection, the paint seems to be cracked and covered in a fine layer of dust. Like her old baby crib looked…

_Maybe..._ Pessinette starts, her subconsciously made voice quiet before trailing off briefly. _Maybe she was pregnant and lost the baby?_ Optinette’s voice was getting more and more quiet the more she talked, her voice _just_ barely detectable.

Optinette could be right, but that means a _very_ sad alternative. One she would rather not have to think about.

Looking even closer, the wood seems to be slightly rotted. Like the crib is old, very old. The fine layer of dust she saw before looks to be almost half an inch thick.

It looks to be very old. Like, maybe a year older than she is. If not older.  

Kneeling beside the crib, she lets her hand hover above it. After a second, the force that she felt earlier latches onto her hand like an invisible iron hand and pulls her hand, and subsequently her body to the rotted wood. It pulls and pulls until her palm is flush against the cracked paint, her arm bent and squished against her chest, her head resting above her hand. The pulling so sudden she clamped her eyes shut, a yelp escaping her lips.  

The first thing she notices is the dry, cracked feel of rotted wood beneath her palm and her hair is pressed against her head.

Sliding open one eye, the second thing she notices, is that the dust around her hand is piled up between her fingers and around her hand. Like something pushed the dust away, but none of the dust was blown away or stuck to her hand.

Keeping her hand flush against the wood (she has no choice, her hand is immovable.), she pulls her head away. Streaks in the dust reveal the fact that her hair pushed away the dust like her hand did.

She closes her eyes, resting her head against the wood again. It feels _so good_ to feel something again. Even if it is dry and cracked and dusty. She wants to feel again, embed the memory into her mind for when she inevitably must go back to Master Fu’s.

A few moments later, she withdraws her hand, her eyes watching it the whole way back to her chest, where she clutched it close.

Sliding her sight back to the crib, her eyes widen a fraction at the sight. The distinct outline of a hand wasn’t what shocked her, no, it was what was on it.

At first, she just remains kneeling dumbly beside the crib, her mind not wanting to work.

She didn’t realize she was numb until feeling slowly started to return to her transparent, (mostly) unfeeling body.

Then her mind starts back up.

And she knows she must get back to Adrien and Tikki.

She must guide them here; however hard it would be.

With renewed vigor, she tears from the attic, through the window and back to Master Fu’s, not caring in the least what she sees along the way.

She, instead of flying through the front door like she normally would, phases through the roof and into the massage room.

Unfortunately, she hasn’t had much practice on Stopping While Flying Through Everything at Speeds She Isn’t Quite Used to, and barely shouts out an “I-“before phasing through the floor and into the ground.

Amiss pure black, she slows herself to a stop and retreats slowly back to the surface.

About a minute later, she floats up through the floor, turning around to face Adrien and Tikki. She shouts out “I found something!” As loud as she can as she catches the end of their conversation. 

* * *

 

Plagg is the god of destruction. Wielding enough power to destroy the entire universe inside his being. He possesses the ability to determine which things are destroyed, and how fast they are destroyed.

He is one of the most powerful beings in the universe!

It’s just _so_ _exhausting_! Okay, sure, he may be able to only eat a few pieces of cheese a day to stay charged, but he certainly won’t tell anyone that. Especially if that means he can eat as much cheese as he wants for most of his entire existence.

Many would say that he, Plagg, the god of destruction, embodiment of chaos and bad luck, is a selfish, lazy, thing. Some would even go so far as to call him a coward.

He prefers to think of himself as… smart enough to pick and choose his battles and brave enough to not let other’s opinions affect his choices.

 As for the coward thing, that stings a little. As the god of destruction, chaos, and bad luck, he can destroy everything and anything. He can do it so efficiently; it requires little work for him. All he has to do is touch something, picture what he wants to happen, and sit back and watch while eating his camembert. Sure, it takes some energy from his reserve when he uses his powers, but he has holders who can supply him with his energy renewing stuff.

So, honestly, if you could do everything, in the fraction of the time but twice the cost, why do what others can easily do. Its much better to be a last resort. Let everyone do all they can do, and when it gets tough, step in and eliminate what they are having trouble with. Then step back into the shadows and relax.

Its what he and Tikki were meant for. Find suitable holders, show them the reins, tell them to step in only when necessary, then relax until needed.

Though Tikki is much more of a... let’s do what we can when we can type of personality. That tends to rub off on the holders. On everyone. That’s probably what you get for being part of the Yin Yang. One of chaos, on of order. One people look up to, one people complain about. He’s learned to deal with it.  

While Plagg is this being of immense power and unpredictability, he is also a sensitive being. Easily attached to those close to him. Like Tikki, but she doesn’t have to go through what he has had to. What he will inevitably have to go through. She doesn’t have to live with the fact that whomever wields him will eventually die shorter than they should have. Weather it be from battle, assassination, or accident. The only ones who live as long as they should are the ones who give him up after they eliminate the threat that had been looming over them. Those ones are the ones people focus on, because the others don’t live long enough to be scrutinized. Those ones turn out to be the cowards. The ones who run from the threat of death. They don’t become the heroes people make legends of. They are the ones who live a full life without the curse of him looming over their lives

But even then, they don’t die from natural causes. Everyone dies because of him, (he created death, after all). They die from unnatural causes. Ones caused by him and his bad luck.

Tikki’s a blessing. He’s a curse.

And the heroes get the worst curses.

Tikki and him balance each other out. And their wielders look to become as balanced as them. But, when they become balanced, they become the most at risk. They become nearly unstoppable forces, so they are faced with nearly immovable objects. They are faced with the hardest foes, and inevitably exchange their lives for peace.

Sometimes he wishes he could Cataclysm himself, not wanting to bring curses to anymore of his kits. But he’s the one thing he can’t destroy. He’s tried many a time. It never works. And he is too good to destroy any kwami, for they are his family, and they do nothing that warrants that.

Nor do his actual kits. Now, the ones who abuse him and the power he represents and wields? Well, they’re all nothing but dust particles, floating through the unknown.

Everyone gets attached to something. He just gets attached to the ones who leave him in the blink on an eye. All because of him. He gets too attached to the ones who leave him. They don’t exactly choose to, but it doesn’t hurt any less knowing that. That’s why he’s tried to convince himself that acting like he doesn’t care at all is better than showing that he does care. It hurts less. It hurts less to not see as much sadness in the dying eyes of a dying chosen.

He doesn’t like talking about the past. He’s had enough time to dwell on it, to think about it. To think about what he could have done to prevent something. He doesn’t need to talk about it.

But, this kit, the kid, Adrien, he deserves to know. He’s quite possibly the best of his kits. Probably able to go toe to toe with Heracles, one of the best. And stand a chance at winning.

He doesn’t talk to his kits about that stuff, because he always ends up curling up with them afterward, to remind himself that they are still alive, still with him. Still able to bring him happiness.

It doesn’t make it hurt less when he hears Tikki tell his kits the stories of the best ones.

It doesn’t make it hurt less when his kits deliberate on weather to keep him or not.

Heracles had almost pulled the ring for good. Left the rest to the turtle, ram, and dragon. But he didn’t. He couldn’t. He needed to retrieve the Ladybug. Retrieve Tikki.

Knowing that this kid was getting close to that point too, was heartbreaking. This kid has the potential of the world resting in his heart. Knowing that he almost let it all go.

He doesn’t want to know what that would do to him.

So, instead of speaking with Tikki. Instead of doing his hurtful job of telling his kits about the past, about himself, he lays on the kit’s chest. Listening to his heartbeat.

He only really started paying attention, opening one eye when the air shifted slightly and the girl floated in the door way, half turned to leave. Tikki was explaining how all the stories tied to the ladybug miraculous and why it is so impressive that he has managed this long without his. But that doesn’t matter, what matters is that the girl is just staring at him. He recognizes the look in her eyes. A look of determination that has only been in the eyes of someone who has lost everything, or close to everything. Someone who will do anything to get it all back. No one can stand in their way.

So, he nods, disguising it as wanting to get into a more comfortable position, then closes his eye again. He wont sleep again, not for a while longer. No, he’s just focusing on the energies in the room and his memories. The air shifted again, and the girl’s aura disappeared.

This Girl, Marinette, if he remembers correctly, has been here since He and his kit arrived here. She was a little firecracker of a person. Definitely one of Tik’s bugs.

Just as he was beginning to recognize the familiar reach of sleep bushing against his mind, Tikki says something that instantly snaps his eyes open and makes his mind crystal clear.

“I was thinking more along the lines of things moving on their own, weird noises, and unexplained wind.”

Then Adrien replies, spiking his anxiety and confusion. “Oh, no I haven’t. Though I do feel a little colder than usual sometimes.” A pause, “Well, that one time I woke for just a bit, a few hours ago, I think I saw a girl. She was weeping above me. I said something, but I can’t remember.”

“Hmm.” Tikki hums. “Well I don’t remember seeing a girl there.”

“Weird” Adrien replies, confusion clear in his mind.

Tikki and Adrien fell silent but Plagg’s mind is running rapid.  

They can’t- couldn’t have seen what he’s seen. They don’t have his senses. They couldn’t have heard what he hears.

Because they’re right. There has been a girl. That girl who was at the door way. The one who claims to be one of Tik’s bugs. The aura he’s felt, its an unnatural aura. One that surrounds ghost like aberrations. But this one is different; it prompts a consistent nagging at the back of his mind. One that makes him think that he’s forgetting something important. Like something has been ripped from his memory.

He’s only felt this once before. That was in the beginning. Coming into existence with a horrible headache isn’t fun. But it was something all the kwami experienced in the beginning. But he can’t think back to before that, other wise the headache come back full force. He doesn’t like pain. So, he doesn’t think about that.

But this girl, he’s beginning to think that maybe she’s really Tikki’s big. The earrings are missing. The girl has very familiar studs in her ears. She seems to know Tikki, Fu and his kit. He will neither deny nor confirm that he’s been close to growling at the girl when she gets close to his kit.

“Well,” Tikki starts after a few seconds, “ I asked you if you’d seen or heard anything weird because I’ve been feeling strange ever since I woke up a week ago.” Tikki looks to Adrien briefly, before looking down again. “By strange I mean I feel like I’m being constantly watched, and even sometimes spoken to.” She finishes, looking to Adrien.

Don’t ask how he knows, it’s a counterpart thing.

“ ... “

“Actually, “Tikki starts again, furrowing her eyebrows. “I haven’t felt that since we started talking. The room feels slightly warmer too.”

“Yeah, I kind of noticed that the room has been a little on the cold side for a while, until what, 5 minutes ago?” Adrien’s eyebrows furrow, most likely thinking about when he first woke up a few hours ago, or pancakes. Don’t ask how he knows that either, it’s kwami-wielder privilege. He also doesn’t know what he has against pancakes, they’re just flattened out bread!

“Why - “Adrien is cut off by the room experiencing a brief spike of cold and someone barely being able to shout out “I” , and one of Plagg’s eyes slide open and locate where it had come from. The ground before him is glowing faintly, like the ghost bug had just gone through it.

Ghosts leave residue behind. But this is deferent. It’s not green or black, or purple. It’s white, making the surroundings look brighter.

With his ears folded back, his one eye trained directly on the spot, eye narrowed, he waits.

He doesn’t like waiting, but whatever this thing is, he can’t get rid of it. He’s tried to calculate what his Cataclysm would do, but he’s never seen anything like this before and he has no desire to figure out what would happen nor does he desire to want to.

After a minute, the girl rises out of the ground slowly. She’s surrounded by an aura of pure white. Too much white to look at without getting an extremely powerful headache. But he created pain. He can block it if he wants. So, he opens his other eye, and glares at this girl. Curling tighter to his favorite kit. She will _not_ touch him. Not if he can do anything about it

She doesn’t seem to notice him, because the second she sees Tikki and his kit, she takes a deep breath.

And releases the loudest scream he’s ever heard from an apparition, louder than a banshee, even.

“I found something!”

Normally, his ears would be ringing, but he won’t allow that, not when she is here. Weather or not she is Tikki’s lost bug, she is disturbing everything.

Normally, Tikki and Adrien wouldn’t have noticed either, but not this time. Both startles, and whip their heads around the room, trying to figure out where the sound came from.

The ghost-bug’s eyes widen, and a smile splits her face in two.

Okay, this has gone too far.

Abruptly, he darts from his kit and to the girl, getting up to her face. The closer he gets, the blurrier she gets, but he won’t let that bother him. He must protect.

But the girl doesn’t react the way apparitions normally do. No, her eyes widen even more, and her jaw drops. Her eyes start to film over, and he can see the water in her eyes.

ghosts don’t draw back in surprise when he zooms to their faces. They don’t get surprised, don’t tear up.

Apparitions definitely don’t step to the side to see if he can see them.

They aren’t surprised when his glare follows them.

They don’t speak in timid voices. They definitely don’t know his name.

So, it was equally surprising to him by what she says: “Plagg? Can you see me? Can you hear me?”

Hostile apparitions don’t get an impossible mixture of relief and sorrow when he continues to narrow his gaze and cock his head is confusion.

They definitely don’t break down after two seconds of prolonged eye contact with him.

He knows both Tikki and Adrien are looking at him with furrowed eyebrows, but he can’t bring himself to care.

Nor does he care when they call his name.

All he can do is look at this ghost-bug in bewilderment.

All he can do is hear the relived and increasingly sorrowful sobs from her.

All he can focus on is her calling him by name over and over again.

And all he can do, is look into her finally upturned eyes, and ask: “Who are you?” And feel even worse when she breaks down into heart wrenching sobs.

Then the world around him returns to focus, as he hears one of the other two beings in the room shout “Plagg!” … Maybe they both shouted?

He turns around, incredibly confused. Because if this girl is who she claims, If they know him, then what is he missing?

“Plagg, what’s wrong?” Tikki asks, floating up to eye level.

“Who were you taking to?” Adrien asks at the same time.

“You don’t see her?”

“See who?” The both ask in unison.

“Really? She’s right in front of the door, sobbing.” Plagg asks raising his eyebrows and directs his next question to hit kit. “Aren’t you going to sooth her?”

“Plagg, no one is there. Are you alright?” Tikki asks,

Plagg hears the sobs increase in intensity. He turns around to the girl again, looking utterly defeated. Like a tortured kitten.

No, he’s seen tortured kits before. She looks worse.

“Adrien, come here.” Plagg orders, not turning from the girl.

He waits for him to get to his side. “There is a girl, right here,” Plagg states, more than a little irritated, pointing to her. She looks up, a hopeful glint to her glassy eyes. “Right. Here.”

“Plagg” Adrien starts softly. “No one is there.”

Plagg watches as this girl slumps in defeat and start to curl in on herself.

Feeling suddenly protective of her, Plagg whips around to face Adrien.

“Right there. Transform and look right there. Transform. _Now_.” Plagg orders, voice starting to raise.

“Okay, okay. Transform me, Plagg.” Adrien calls for his transformation, feeling more than a little confused by Plagg’s sudden anger. As his transformation completes, the first thing he notices, are soft sobs.

When he turns his head, he sees a girl curled on the floor. She’s surrounded in a blinding white aura, but suddenly his vision becomes darker and he can see her mostly clearly.

He crouches down and reaches out a hesitant hand.

“Hey, are you ok? What’s wrong?” He asks, feeling more than a little sorry for what he had said, if she could hear him.

He sees her tense slightly, and her head pokes out from its hiding place behind her arms. He sees recognition and glee in her glassy eyes.

“Y-Yeah. I’m better now.” He had to really strain his ears to hear her say that.

“Let me help you up.” He says as he stands up and bends forward, hand outstretched.

She reaches out, a look of hope in her eyes. But, to his utter horror, her hand phases right through his hand. She sighs in defeat, but it wasn’t just defeat. More like recognition, like it’s happened before, and she was hoping it might be different this time around.

“Oh, uh, okay.” Adrien’s stammers as he tries to come up with something to say.

“It’s okay, I don’t know what I was expecting.” She says, uncurling from her position.

Adrien feels horrible that she must live like this.

“Thanks for trying, Adrien.” His eyes snap to hers, as he hears his civilian name come from this girl.

“…Do I know you?”


	7. Stupid Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life is hard for teenagers. Growing up, learning to be responsible. And thoughts, those are distracting. Especially the stupid ones. Even more so when to figure out weird, timeline, magic stuff. And when an akuma is based off of one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright! got this one out! Chapter 8 is soon to come, and then I'll be working on chapters 9 and 10. Sorry for the wait. Anyway, enjoy this revised chapter 7!

For a few seconds, Marinette was frozen. His words not registering properly. Then, all at once, it was the only thing occupying her mind. Whatever she came here to tell Adrien and Tikki completely lost to the void that has destroyed her life.

After a week of isolation, and emotional torture, someone had finally been able to see her! Talk to her and hear her!

_...but they have no memory of you._ Pessinette, the She-devil she is whispered to her.

_“Do I know you?”_ Pessinette continues to torture Marinette with his words.

_No one realizes you were gone, what makes you think they ever can?_

Flashes of memory run through her mind, egged on by Pessinette.

No pictures of her in her parent’s house.

Tikki having no memory of the last three years together.

Chat Noir not remembering who Ladybug is.

Adrien not remembering who Ladybug is.

Adrien not remembering her.

_“But they can see you now!”_ Optinette’s voice rings through like a sweet chime. _“Plagg and Adrien can see you, can hear you. Can talk with you. You can finally get to help them bring you back! You can tell them that there are people to bring back!”_

“Hey... are you okay?” Adrien’s voice breaks her from her thoughts, and Marinette looks up to see Chat Noir, crouched down in front of her. His eyes full of concern.

She hadn’t realized that she can curled up further upon registering his words, until her body loosened up.

“Yeah, thanks Cha-...” Her sentence trails off as she remembers what happened a few hours ago. This boy in leather, her partner, her silly, adorable, goofball of a partner is Adrien Agreste. The love of her life. The boy who has sacrificed himself for her safety and the safety of Paris. Repeatedly. The boy who she has pushed away over and over, in favor of… his other self. Her eyes widen. How could she have _forgotten_ this! If even for a few seconds, _how could she forget this_! And! Since the akuma last week, he’s been through even worse. He even has bruises! Maybe even broken bones, or a concussion! All because she was stupid…

_“Nope, what happened was not because you weren’t stupid. That akuma was on the down low and had powers to make it so that no one could remember them or who they were. Just because your nature is to help people doesn’t mean that when it goes wrong it’s your fault!”_ Optinette’s voice sounds from afar.

Honestly, she doesn’t want to. She just wants the pain to be over. She can’t handle being so emotionally tortured anymore. But, then… how could she ever help Adrien again? The citizens? Could there be another Ladybug if she gives up? Could she just leave the earrings and move on without costing the world everything?

No, she couldn’t do that to Tikki. To Adrien. To Paris. She must fight on.

Adrien’s, now neon green, slitted, Cat eyes, framed by a dark helmet, bore into hers; which are sure to be a dull blue, almost white, after all she went through.

He does know her. And it’s a very long story, but they aren’t exactly short on time. If she’s going to come back, she must tell them everything.

She should probably start talking... Adrien is starting to shift on his feet, his eyes no longer locked on hers, but darting around the room. He’s anxious. The poor, sweet boy.

“It’s a long story.” She begins, smiling slightly when his eyes snap to hers again.

“But, first, I should answer your question...” his head cocks to the side, his cat ears flopping with the movement, the tufts of hair making the gesture more adorable. “Yes. You do know me. Just... I-you... you can’t-“ her voice cracks and she can’t voice anything else.

Chat falls back, his eyes wide with terror. But not terror of her. Terror of how he couldn’t even recognize someone he supposedly once knew.

“You- you might want to go sit down somewhere more comfortable. It’s going to take a long time.” He nods, and shakily stands up and shuffling over to the futon. As he flops down onto the futon, Plagg releases the transformation and zips off to Tikki.

Taking this opportunity, she takes a few deep breaths, steeling herself for the sure-to-be emotional rollercoaster of recounting her life and the past week.

As she stands, Adrien calls over to Plagg, his eyes never leaving where he last saw Marinette. Though, she isn’t there, instead sitting on the floor right before him; but he doesn’t know that. “She’s still here, right?”

Why he would think she would disappear if he couldn’t see her escapes her understanding, but she hasn’t really seen how Plagg and Adrien interact. It should be fun to see how it plays out. So, she sits quietly, listening to them talk.

With a sigh, Plagg glances over to Marinette from his place with Tikki, then turns his gaze on his young wielder. “Yes, she is still here.” He then returns his attention to his counterpart.

Both Tikki and Marinette can’t help but giggle a bit at Adrien’s dumbfounded expression.

“Why can’t I see her then?” Adrien finally tears his eyes from where he thinks she is and crosses his arms as he questioningly raises an eyebrow at his kwami.

“Because I’m a god and you aren’t,” Plagg huffs out, “now, leave me be.” Tikki giggles at his response. Marinette only cocks her head to the side, her eyes sure to be glinting with amusement.

Adrien looks slightly miffed, but soon, a smug smile crosses his lips, “Tikki?” He asks, “can you see her?” His eyes never leaving Plagg’s in a silent challenge.

Tikki looks around the room, then sighs dejectedly. “No... I can’t see her... I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to be sorry, Tikki.” Marinette mumbles, not intending for anyone to hear it, and is surprised when Plagg looks at her sadly before returning his attention to his charge.

“Why is that, Plagg? She’s a god just like you.” Adrien’s voice is laced with smugness, obviously thinking he’s won so easily.

“Well, technically, we aren’t gods, per se-“ Tikki tries to start, but neither cats are listening. She’ll have to ask Tikki about it later, she’s always thought they were gods. What else could they be?

“One: _goddess_. She is a _goddess_. Two: That’s because I’m better than her.” Plagg puffs his chest out.

Tikki hits him

“OW! Okay, fine I’m not better than her... most of the time, I just have better eyesight!”

Tikki hits him once more.

“What? It’s true!” Plagg defends, pushing away from Tikki and rubbing his tiny abused body.

Tikki huffs angrily but doesn’t give chase. Plagg eyes her warily, slowly drifting back to her.

“Well, if no one else can see her...” Adrien let’s his sentence trail off, his smirk widening with Plagg’s eyes.

“No! Don’t. Just... No.” Plagg zips close to Adrien’s face, squeezing his cheeks, glaring into his eyes. “I haven’t eaten yet.”

Adrien raises his other eyebrow, “I didn’t even use the powers. You don’t need to recharge.”

Plagg scoffs, “I have you my amazing eyesight! Do you know how exhausting that is?”

Adrien cocks his head to the side, “You’ve never complained about it before.”

“This is different!” Plagg defends, squeezing his cheeks even more.

“I don’t believe you,” Adrien’s smirk widens even more, “Plagg, Cla- “

“No!” Plagg clamps his paws over Adrien mouth. Angry, green cat eyes glaring into amused, green, human eyes.

This has been going on for too long. No matter how amusing it is to see them banter like this, it gets annoying pretty fast.

“You know, Plagg, you could just be a translator.”

Wait, translator. She isn’t speaking a different language! She shouldn’t have said translator! She should have said medium. Or something like that. Just repeat her words to Adrien.

She opens her mouth to rephrase what she said, but Plagg turns to her and narrows his eyes.

Great, now Plagg hates her idea. She should just lea-

“Actually, I have a better idea.” He’s turned back to Adrien again.

“I could just translate for you.”

Awesome. Now he’s using her own words against her.

Adrien screws his face up in thought. Making her breath catch in her throat. What if he hates that? What if he thinks she’s stupid! What if-

“Fine. But I don’t think it’s quite translating. She can hear me, right?” He pauses, “It’s more like repeating her words.

“Which,” Plagg seems smug, “is what translating is. Just repeating one’s words to someone else so that they understand it. I’m just not changing anything.”

Adrien is silent for a moment. “Alright, I’ll give you this one. What do you want?”

“I’ll let the first comment slide, but what do you mean by: ‘What do you want’?!” Plagg’s asks incredulously, throwing his arms into the air.

"You never do anything without wanting something in return." Adrien says, scratching Plagg's head.

"NOt true!" Plagg shouts, batting away Adrien's hand.

"Give me one example of you being selfless." Adrien says smugly.

Plagg is silent for a moment, glaring at his charge.

“That’s what I thought.” Adrien says, sounding like he just won a battle.

"Anyway, just give me more cheese." Plagg says, turning away from Adrien.

"Okay." Adrien agrees with a light laugh

“Perfect,” Plagg then turns his eyes to Marinette. “Start talking.”

“Plagg!” Both Adrien and Tikki shout

“... please."

Raising a brow at Plagg’s antics, an invisible-to-all-except-Plagg brow, Marinette starts relaying her life, starting from the beginning.

The day Hawkmoth rose. How ladybug had failed at first. How, the morning after the akuma attack, while at school, she saw this one kid-who looked to be friends with her school bully, Chloé - sticking gum onto her seat. Or, that’s what it looked like. Then, at the end of the school day, he had explained everything to her. She had fallen in love with him in that moment.

Plagg makes a gagging sound when he finished relating that bit of information, asking why this part is important. Tikki and Adrien both scold him.

She forges onward.

After that, she explains how, with this huge crush on this boy, - another gag - she had obsessed over him. Made him a present for his birthday. How she got so nervous around him, stuttering, mixing up her words.

She related every single interaction to them. Of course, Plagg has complained and begged Adrien to transform when got to Story Weather. That was only a fraction of her stories.

“O-Kay? Um, well, that’s all... nice? How does this relate to you knowing... me?” Chat asks, his head tilting again. Creating an oh-so-adorable picture of a battle-hardened kitten full of pure curiosity.

“Ah, um, well...” Darn, even now - when he doesn’t remember any of those interactions, it’s almost impossible to get it out.

“I-I-...” gosh darn it Marinette, just blurt it out! She shouts internally to herself.

Chats eyes are wide.

“I said that out loud, didn’t I?”

“Well... not so much as said it as... shouted it?” He cringes a little when she slaps her hands over her face.

“Ugh! Okay, bear with me... bear with me.” She takes a few deep breaths.

Okay, it’s right there. All she has to do it blurt it out. That’s all that needs to happen.

“I...” She drawls, trying her best to force out her words. “Thatboy-well-he-uh-Hewas...he was-is,was-nois-you.” She blurt’s out, cringing, waiting for his response.

“Ah.” That sums it up. “I, I didn’t actually get all that. Could you-could you repeat that. Slower, please.”

She takes a deep breath. “It-it’s not important. Not now. Just, in my timeline, you are in my class, and have been for years.”

“Okay...” He scrunches his eyebrows together in thought and frustration.

“Marinette.”

“Right, thank you.” Even with erased memories, he remains polite. Why must he be so good? “So, Marinette, we are classmates, and now I know about the crush/love of your life. Were we this close in the original timeline?”

“Ah, well. Sort of?” Her voice squeaks.

“Anyway,” He Shakes his head, more blonde tufts poof from his ears, “tell me about the akuma attack a week ago.”

She tells him about the attack. How, she was startled by something-that escapes her mind-and then, when she had tried to go to school, she was confronted by a weird man with even weirder glasses.

“Wait, that sounds like that weird akuma I took down about a week ago - darn, I still need to get a name for him - anyway, that’s when my headaches started too!”

“Yeah, weird guy. Anyway, when he touched me, he had screamed, then walked away. That when I became like... this...” She trails off, gesturing to her entire ghostly body.

“Yeah...” Chat trails off, looking at her with sad eyes.

“So, Anyway, no one can see me, or hear me, and I can’t touch or move anything. Except for a few small things and even then, only for a few seconds. I can go through anything, and just a few hours ago, I found something that I think can help to bring me back.”

“Like, actually bring you back?”

“Yeah!”

“Marinette, I’m not sure if we can bring you back without Ladybug... speaking of which, do you know about Ladybug?”

“Ah,” her body goes stiff, all her ghost-like muscles freezing, “Yeah, Ladybug is pretty big. She has her own blog. Huge amounts of fans.” She says a little timidly.

“Okay, okay... do you know what happened to her?”

There it is, the question she was afraid of - kind of, maybe, not really? “Yeah, She, uh, she attempted to protect me. But... she...” her voice goes quiet, her eyes beginning to tear up. Why can’t she just tell him that she’s ladybug?! It would save so much time! So much confusion.

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s not your fault.” He tries to hug her, but his arms go right through her. While it makes her sad to remember that, she appreciates the sentiment. “Right, sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

“Just after the akuma had touched me, she had shown up. She tried to attack the akuma. But when she got within reach...” She swallows back a sob. She couldn’t save herself. Couldn’t see that that man wasn’t right, that he wasn’t normal. She should have recognized the crackling energy around him. She should have been fast- “

“Hey, it’s not your fault. You couldn’t have wanted this. You couldn’t have wanted her to fade into what you are suffering from.” Chat - Adrien - says, reaching out for her, but unable to touch her.

* * *

 

“So, uh, would you happen to know why Tikki would still be here, if it was Ladybug who was transformed.” Adrien asks.

Marinette’s already ghostly pale face drains further of color, her eyes blowing wide, “Oh... I - um, well...” the words stumble out of her mouth before trailing off. She’s awkwardly pulling on her fingers, her gaze settling on the floor between them. Adrien can’t help but feel guilty about causing her discomfort. He’s just about to change the subject when she speaks again.

“I have no clue. Akuma are... weird?” She’s quiet. Quieter than she had been before, he really had to strain his ears to hear what she said.

Then, Marinette finally looks up to his eyes again. She looks so vulnerable. So breakable. So very sad. And all Adrien wants to do, is to wrap her up in his arms. To tell her everything is alright. That people love her...

That _he_ loves her.

Wait, where’d that come fr-

His thoughts are cut off by Tikki’s shockingly loud, horrified gasp that tears both their gazes to the kwami instantly.

Somehow, without any of them noticing, Tikki had drifted over and alighted on Adrien’s shoulder. Tikki’s arms are both gone. Like they were never there. Like she was created without arms. If anyone had walked in and looked at her, not having known her before, they would have thought she never had arms. It’s a very disconcerting and horrifying sight for all three of them.

Then, suddenly, in the blink of an eye, Tikki’s arms are back. Red, stubby, arms. Complete with the tiny paws. Nothing wrong.

Adrien stares at the newly returned arms. Then, he stares at Tikki’s stare. Reluctantly, he looks over to Marinette. Her eyes are wide open. Her gaze filled with terror, looking at the little goddess. Why she would be feeling anything toward Tikki, he has no clue, but it does give him an inkling of who she is as a person. Someone who cares about everyone. Someone who, given the right opportunity and means, would sacrifice herself for random strangers.

He shakes his head to bring himself back to reality. He barely knows Marinette. Whether or not they knew each other before doesn’t matter right now. Because right now, something is wrong with the kwami of Creation. (Wait, if she embodies Creation, what created her. And then what created the being that created her? No, no time for a brain breaking loophole)

They cannot lose Tikki. For if she is gone, shouldn’t everything else disappear?

“Chat - Adrien...” Marinette quickly corrects herself, “why did her arms fade?” Her eyes have locked with Tikki big blue eyes. Both sharing unshed tears and looks of horror.

And, honestly, he has no idea. No idea why she’s fading. He has no clue how they can bring Marinette back without Ladybug. And if Tikki is starting to fade, whatever that means, that means that Ladybug would cease to exist. Which would bring creation to a stop. And destruction would rein. That cannot happen.

And... he has absolutely no clue why she would ask him that.

“I...” He trails off with a sigh, “I have no idea. I don’t know, Marinette.” He’s pretty sure he can see his own body because he’s so detached. Everything sounds far away. Colors are dim. Everything is fuzzy. Nothing makes sense.

Except for one thing. He knows that he wants to engulf this transparent girl, and tiny red thing in a bone crushing hug. But he knows that he can’t. For some reason.

Then, the girl’s eyes shift from the red being’s eyes, and everything snaps back to reality so fast that Adrien is certain that he received whiplash.

Marinette’s eyes are focused on his now, bluebell boring into acid green. Her expression is no longer one of sadness and horror. But one of determination. A stark contrast to everything else.

“I think I might have an idea.” She says, her voice almost dripping with venom. Why she would use this tone, he has no clue. But her eyes are lined with tears, and he notices her fingers slowly moving across her earrings. Hesitantly cupping them, then releasing them. Her fingers never leaving the surface of the smooth stone.

Huh - those earrings... they seem... familia- whatever his thoughts were going to form are cut off by a splitting headache. Persistent in stopping most brain function.

He flops down onto the futon, taking short breaths to remind his brain how breathing feels. After a few minutes, thoughts begin to reform, normal brain function returning. Taking a deep breath, he tries to remember the last few seconds, but comes up empty.

“-ien!” A girl’s voice breaks into his mind. “Adrien! Are you okay?!”

Slowly, he opens his eyes, just noticing that they had closed. In front of him is a girl, long raven blue hair done up in pigtails. White shirt, grey blazer. Pink jeans. Big, blue eyes filled with concern. A few tears falling from her cheeks. Her hands clutched to her chest. A bright, white, painful aura surrounding her. He blinks a few times, sure that he was seeing an angel. For, a being of such beauty and possessing an aura of such whiteness could only be an angel.

Unfortunately, after a few blinks, the aura dies down, and he recognizes her. Marinette. That’s her name. They had been taking about something. What was it...?

Right! She asked him why Tikki was... fading, was it? Yeah, fading. Wait! Fading. Didn't she describe what happened to her as fading? _Maybe, maybe not, I have no clue. Anyway! Ladybug was hit too! That means that she’s a part of the faded... forgotten? Part of the forgotten? Anyway- I’m saying that too much, but! Tikki is fading too! That means that she’s still connected to Ladybug, right? It must be that. Ladybug and Marinette were both hit by that akuma. Fader! No, not good enough. It needs to be something else. But now I know sort of where to star-_

“Adrien!” Marinette shouts, and he snaps back to reality once more.

She has gotten close now, and he’s much colder. “Right, sorry, I spaced out for about, I’m fine. Thank you.”

Marinette eyes him skeptically. “Right...” She trails off, letting him know that she does not, under any circumstances, believe him at all.

“Anyway,” wow, he really needs to figure out a way to stop saying that so much, “you said that you have an idea of why she’s fading?”

“Well,” She drawls, “I said I might have an idea.”

“Same thing. Shoot.” Adrien sits up and leans toward Marinette.

“I - well - you...” She sighs forcefully, like he was annoying her, she opens her mouth a few times again, but no words come out. Grumpily, she sighs again.

“What are you trying to say.” Adrien can’t help but tease her, plus, her grumpy face is absolutely adorable!

“Never mind about that.” Marinette says, shaking her head, her face morphing into a vulnerable state. “Now, about my idea... I... Okay, you have to promise not to be mad.”

“Why would I be mad? It’s not like you wanted any of this stuff to happen.” Adrien asks, cocking his head to the side, confused as ever.

She didn’t do anything wrong! She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time!

“It’s not that simple. It’s so complicated! I just need you to promise, please.” Marinette’s eyes and tone are pleading.

“Okay, yeah, I- “

Before he gets the opportunity to make his promise, something - no, not something - well, technically something, but he knows what the something is - but words. If his magically enhanced cat eye vision isn’t misleading him, those were words. Two of them: “GO AWAY!”-crashes through the apartment window, and grazes Marinette’s head before colliding with the floor, causing it to crack and splinter.

Great. Absolutely splendid! Another akuma. And this one broke Master Fu’s window. The best.

Releasing a heavy sigh, Adrien stands up, brushing off stray pieces of glass. “Tikki, come with me please?” He asks, making his way to the broken window, where screaming and crashing is coming from.

“What?! Are you crazy? I can’t do anything without the miraculous! It’ll be too dangerous!” Tikki exclaims, her normally calm demeanor forgotten.

“Please Tikki?” Adrien puts his clawed hands together in a pleading manner, one he has only seen in his secret anime shows. Like Gabriel would ever knowingly let his son watch those, nor learn this mannerism.

Tikki glares at him, the tiny being trying to be intimidating. But, reluctantly, she agrees. No one can resist the puppy eyes.

“Yes!” Adrien practically jumps to the ceiling in excitement before ushering the kwami into his collar.

Then, with poorly controlled enthusiasm, Adrien jumps through the broken window to go fight the akuma, this time with a little bit of luck on his side.

* * *

 

“The Thinker. Oh, Hawkmoth, why can’t you come up with better names?” Marinette mutters to herself, looking at the akumatized person hurts her brain. But she must do it. If only to keep watch for Cha - Adrien and Tikki. Dang, it’s still so hard to think of Adrien and Chat Noir as one person. But she will persist.

The Thinker has already done his whole, “I am The Thinker! Give me your miraculous, Chat Noir!” Thing that every single akuma or villain ever depicted ever has done. The Thinker is dressed in a green robe, with gold lining, and a high collar. Upon his arms, are two metal gauntlets, which fire off the thoughts he forms. Each gauntlet is black, with gold swirls all over it. Upon his head, sits a helmet like thing. It’s like a mixture between a bald cap and a helmet. But it’s textured like a brain. Whenever it glows, which is every other second, a new formation of thoughts is ready to be fired.

Well, thoughts is a bit of a stretch. They’re just words, which, depending on the word/sentence, do different things. For instance, ‘destroy’, well, it destroys whatever it meets. Erase, disappear, begone, go away, etc. all do basically the same thing that destroy does. Others are freeze, stop, die - that is a really concerning one, freaking _psychopath_ \- fly, turn around, and many others.

His face is uncovered but is completely blank. Like a mannequin. Also, it’s purple. Hawkmoth, always with turning people’s skin a different color. Only the rare exception of akuma victims don’t get a different colored skin. Or completely different body. 

For the past ten minutes, Adrien, as Chat Noir, - Yes, much easier to think of it that way - has been dodging everything sent his way, while the thoughts just fly through her. They don’t leave any weird aftertaste, so that’s confusing yet relieving. She does not want to know what a person’s thoughts taste like. Especially a corrupted person’s. 

She’s seen Adrien fight before. In the normal timeline, he wasn’t nearly as good. He would dodge most hits, and block others, but some would get through. He was more agile on his feet than she was. Though, being infused with luck, she got hit even less. What Forgotten Adrien can do… It’s astounding. Not once does he get hit. He doesn’t even pull out his baton to deflect an attack. It’s all dodging. He is more agile than she could ever hope to be on her feet. In the air though, she could give him a run for his money, but not on her feet.

There are some that come close to hitting him, but his reflexes come out on top.

The Thinker hasn’t been giving Adrien the chance to come closer, since he’s been bombarding the superhero with thoughts from the second he saw the black clad boy.

So, when The Thinker stops using one of his gauntlets, effectively halving his attacks, Marinette is instantly suspicious. She hopes Adrien is too. Looking closer, Marinette sees that The Thinker has his right gauntlet tucked up close to his chest. An eerie green glow emanating from it, Marinette becomes even more suspicious and concerned. She scoots closer to Adrien.

The brain helm is glowing the same eerie green, which helps connect the dots for Marinette. Whenever the helmet glows, thoughts are being arranged into tangible letters and words. Then, they get sent to either gauntlet, ready to be fired at whatever The Thinker wants.

Now, it could just be continuously glowing due to The Thinker bombarding Adrien. But she’s been watching the fight for the past 12 minutes. This eerie green glow has never shown up before.

So, if the gauntlet and the helm are glowing the same shade of green. That can only mean one thing.

Whatever the next thought is to come out is going to be from that gauntlet. And, see if as no other words/thoughts have flowed that shade of green, this could mean that this next one is potentially going to be extremely dangerous. And imbued with akuma magic. Which will do serious damage to Paris’s only superhero.

Because The Thinker has reduced his attacks, Chat has found his way closer to him. Which is most likely what he wanted in the first place.

When Chat is close enough so that the attack will be nearly impossible to dodge, he stops all attacks, his gauntlet and helm glowing even brighter.

She yells for Adrien to move, to get away! But he doesn’t seem to register her words.

So, Marinette jumps in front of him, utilizing her ghostly non-weight to propel her at faster speeds than her yo-yo could, just in time for The Thinker to fire off his _cat_ -astrophic thought.

Oh, if she ends up getting through this, she is so telling Adrien that. Maybe he’ll get a kick out of it. Heaven knows she needs to hear his laughter again.

Floating in front of her love, she closes her eyes, suppressing her instinct to _get out of the way!_ She prays to whatever being is out there. To all the kwami. To whatever created the kwami.

_Please! Please, just this once!_

Then, suddenly, an overwhelming cold envelopes her body. Making her shiver uncontrollably and collapse to the ground. But she doesn’t black out. She hasn’t even felt anything that come close to this since her winters as Ladybug. This, though, this is worse.

* * *

 

Since he jumped through the broken window, Adrien has been focused on two things, and two things only. One: protect Tikki at all costs, and two: find and break the akumatized object.

The first thing is easy enough, as long as Adrien keeps himself safe, the Embodiment of Creation is safe. He just hopes she can hold on.

And, with luck magic enhancing his already more than normal abilities as well as Magic-Cat reflexes, it makes it all that much easier to dodge and weave between the rapid thoughts.

The second one is a little bit harder. Though, finding the akumatized object is moderately easy.

It’s a helmet, textured like a brain. It glows every time a word is fired at Adrien - well, Chat Noir.

No, the hard part of all of this was getting close enough to get a hold on the helmet. The Thinker, as Hawkmoth so usually, foolishly dubbed his new minion, has been bombarding him with thoughts, his thoughts running rapid. Heh. He’ll have to tell Marinette that one. Anyhow, the thoughts have been keeping him at a frustrating distance. Close enough to see the details on The Thinker, but too far to even try to touch him.

Then, finally, after what felt like an eternity, The Thinker’s attacks halved in frequency; making it much easier to get close. But he isn’t taking the bait.

Not until what seems like a minute has passed (might have been more, Adrien’s sense of time has been skewed since he jumped out the window), he inches closer, seeing as the Thinker hasn’t upped his attack frequency again. Which, quite frankly, is weird. Adrien would much rather pounce on him and get the entire fight over with, but this akuma is frustratingly defensive.

‘Just use a Cataclysm.’ Plagg chimes in, making Adrien stumble a bit. Seriously, it’s still hard to get used to Plagg talking to him while transformed, even if it has been a few days since it first happened.

‘Plagg, if I use it, it would leave me with 5 minutes to end the fight, and I don’t think I can pull that off.’ He sends off to his kwami, frustrated at the stupid akuma.

‘Ugh.’

‘Yeah, yeah, tell me about it.’ He sighs, weaving around another suicide thought. It’s really concerning what this guy thinks about. Maybe he should set the victim up with a therapist.

The thoughts are slowing down in frequency, giving Adrien the chance to get even closer. ‘Maybe I can use a Cataclysm. It should end this fight. I just need to get _this_ much closer.’

‘Just jump him already, your part cat!’

‘Key Word _part_ , I’d like to keep in touch with my humanity.’

‘Oh please, being a cat is so much easier and funner.’

‘Not helping!’

Plagg only snickers, which makes a weird static-y noise in his mind.

‘Also, it’s more fun, not funner.’

Plagg scoffs, ‘I’m literally a cat made of energy, I couldn’t care less about punctual grammar.’

Shaking his head, he takes a few steps closer, readying his leg muscles for jumping. He glances at the helmet, planning his route of pouncing, but the glow the helmet is emanating keeps him from jumping. Also, the akuma has a glowing gauntlet pointed right at him.

‘I should have paid more attention!’ Adrien silently shouts as he digs his heels into the ground, intending on getting enough friction to jump out of the line of fire.

‘No duh!’ Plagg says, a hint of annoyance in his mental tone. Then, out of the corner of his eye, a flash of movement catches his eye, successfully putting a stop to his movement, his eyes wide.

‘Someone just jumped in front of you!” Plagg seems to shout at him. And, honestly, his brain can’t form any thoughts now. Neither can his body move.

All because Marinette jumped in front of him. Trying to block the attack. And he can only watch as The Thinker’s eerily glowing thought rockets off toward Marinette. He’s ready to plan her funeral, or his own. Maybe he should move.

But nothing matters, because the attack slams into Marinette.

Or, well, it would have slammed into her if she had a physical body. It also should have just flown right through her. But not this time. No, this time, the glowing words seep into Marinette’s body, tainting her bright white aura a deep, semi light green. Making her look like a proper ghost.

He snaps from his reverie and take a step closer to her. Her eyes are closed tight, her mouth twisted in determination.

But she doesn’t seem hurt.

He takes another step closer. This time, instead of a gradual cold surrounding her, it’s a steep drop off from the normal air temperature, making it extremely uncomfortable to be within even a meter of her.

So, instead of stepping closer, he attempts to speak.

“Wh-“ the cold surrounding him at the moment makes his mouth feel like it’s burning.

Marinette snaps her eyes open, and their gazes lock. Her big blue eyes making the cold just ever-so-slightly more bearable.

Marinette scrunches her eyebrows, confusion written all over her face, but relief clear in her eyes.

‘Kid! She is asking what’s wrong. Don’t leave her hanging.’

Thank goodness he has Plagg to tell him the obvious.

‘Thanks, Plagg, I totally did not know that.’

‘Glad to help!’

Adrien rolls his eyes, then clears his throat.

“Umm... i-“ _it’s so hard to say things!_ So, Adrien settles on gesturing to her whole body.

With even more confusion, Marinette glances down at her body, back up to his eyes for half a second, then they snap back to her body; raising her arms, and craning her head to look at her entire body. Her eyes are curious and wide.

After a few seconds, she looks back up, her eyes narrowed. For a second, he wonders if she’s mad at him for not saving her.

‘Woah! That is one crazy aura right there!’ Somehow, Plagg manages to say everything in _just the right way,_ at _just the right time._

Then, Marinette looks over her shoulder, a small smirk growing into an evil one with what she sees.

Standing just a few meters back, The Thinker is frozen still, his jaw to the floor, his gauntlet clad arms hanging useless by his side. Adrien cocks his head to the side, curiosity clear to anyone who looks at him. He wonders if The Thinker can see her, and if so, then what he sees.

When he looks back to Marinette, she has her back to Adrien, eyes set on the Akumatized civilian. Then, Marinette takes a few steps toward the Thinker, and, with an amused smile creeping up on Adrien’s lips, The Thinker snaps from his frozen, shocked, terrified, baffled state and takes a few steps back; his baffled expression morphing into one of horror.

‘Duuuddee’ Plagg drawls.

‘Okay, seriously? That’s Nino’s thing, don’t steal it!’ Adrien sends back to Plagg, offense clear in his mental voice.

Adrien watches, conversing with Plagg for the next few minutes as Marinette and The Thinker go around in the scariest game of tag ever. He can’t help but laugh every few minutes.

After another few minutes of The Thinker running from the floating, green mass of thoughts turned against him that is Marinette, his smile widens even more. Hawkmoth’s symbol hasn’t shown yet. Maybe Hawkmoth is terrified of the floating traitor mass too?

The Thinker starts to panic even more, his running turns into sprinting, his breath becoming even more labored, arms flailing. But Marinette doesn’t slow down, she easily keeps pace with the frantic Akuma. Never straying from just a meter and a half away.

In his haste to get away from Marinette, The Thinker fails to take in his surroundings.  Now, they are fighting in a flat area of the city, cars destroyed, and civilians evacuated. But Adrien is just standing, looking like a father watching two children play a game of tag, reminiscing about the good old days. The Thinker doesn’t realize that he’s sprinting straight for Adrien, probably because his hidden eyes are stuck on the green mass following him from over his shoulder.

Shaking his head amusedly, he unsheathes his baton, getting ready to intercept the absolutely terrified akuma. Maybe, just maybe, this interaction will give Hawkmoth night terrors and he won’t send out an akuma for at least a week. Is that plausible? Probably not, he didn’t stop when he possessed a child twice. Or when he accidentally created a Thanos type akuma with an infinity gauntlet. (“We don’t talk about that one, kid. Let it go. You can rest now.” Plagg had said as he was trying to take in what had happened when he was trying to process what had happened after the fight). Will that stop Adrien from dreaming and hoping? No.

Suddenly, The Thinker crashes into Adrien, snapping him from his thoughts, and The Thinker releases an unholy shriek is absolute terror. But Adrien doesn’t let The Thinker reestablish his dignity, and brings his baton down on the Thinker’s head with a sickening crack. The Thinker crumbles immediately to the ground. His shriek slowly dying on his lips until all is silent.

Adrien just stands there, looking down at The Thinker, baton frozen where it had met his head, ears still ringing from the sheer volume of The Thinkers shriek. Adrien only just barely registers that Marinette is standing by his side, laughing uncontrollably.

After a few seconds, as Adrien is regaining his bearings and recovering from Plagg’s mental laughter, Marinette’s laughing settles down into giggles. A few moments later, Marinette crouches down next to The Thinker’s unconscious body, and rests a hand on his helmet. The green aura seeps from her hand into the helmet, then the helmet explodes, shooting black particles of destroyed helmet and green and black sparks shooting off every which way. With the explosion, the corrupted butterfly is sent flying toward Adrien, then it collides with his leather clad chest.  With three pairs of eyes watching the butterfly, it slowly slips from his chest and falls to the ground.

After a few seconds of looking at the unmoving akuma, Adrien looks up to Marinette and sees amusement in her eyes. He then gasps theatrically, collapsing to his knees. “Ow! That hurt. Why would you do such a thing?” His gaze is on the corrupted butterfly, but he keeps an eye on the transparent girl out of the corner of his eye.

Marinette lets out an unladylike snort, and a small giggle comes from his pocket. Even Plagg snickers at him. Adrien can’t help but smile.

“Well, Tikki, this is where we come to my plan.” Adrien says and Tikki pops out of his collar, curiosity written all over her face. “I’ve been thinking. Plagg can destroy quite a bit without me. More so, actually. So, I was wondering, do you think you can purify and reset without your miraculous?”

Tikki looks pensive for a few seconds, then she looks back to Adrien and nods. “I’m willing to try! I’m not sure if I’ve done it before, though.”

“That’s okay!” Adrien reassures her.

‘Oh, this is the best part, watch closely!’ Plagg says, just a bit too much like a game show announcer.

‘Wait, do you know what's about to happen. Tikki just said that she doesn’t know if she can do it.’

‘Nah, that’s just her being insecure about what happens next. But, really, it’s absolutely amazing! Now shush, I’m watching!’

With a fond shake of the head, Adrien turns his attention to Tikki.

Tikki floats down to the corrupted butterfly, and rests a paw on it; like she’s apologizing to it, before shoving it into her mouth. If the twin looks of amused terror from both Adrien and Marinette bothers her, she doesn’t let it show.

A second later, her spots and eyes glow white, all Avatar the Last Airbender style and, shocking them all, except Plagg, looks up the sky and opens her mouth. A white beam shoots forth from her mouth and eyes into the sky and when it goes away; a purified butterfly flutters out of her mouth. Tikki looks up to Adrien with big, adorable eyes full of vulnerability.

And all Adrien can think about is a “Ding!” Sound accompanying her mouth with the purified butterfly flying away.

All is silent. No one knows what to say. Plagg just keeps laughing like a maniac.

“That…” Adrien starts. “Was amazing!” He finishes, pulling Tikki in for a hug. “You are the _best_ , most _adorable_ thing _ever_!”

“Thanks!” Tikki replies with a giggle, nuzzling his cheek. Her insecurity seeming to have vanished partly.

After a bit of nuzzling, Adrien separates from Tikki and tells her to hide in his collar again, stating that. “Someone could see her.”

She complies and settles in his collar once again.

He looks up to Marinette and sees her silently shaking.

“Not. One. Word.”

That only gets her to burst out laughing

“Okay, we need to get going.” He says with a sigh. “We have a baby crib to see!”

‘Doesn’t that require breaking into someone’s house?’ Plagg asks, being the voice of reason for the first time ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love you three thousand.   
> sorry-not-sorry


	8. The Crib

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the battle with The Thinker, Chat and Marinette head to the bakery to take a look at the baby crib that Marinette saw earlier that day. They have a bit of fun trying to get in and once they do get in, they realize something very sad could have happened in this alternate timeline.

‘Oh,’ Adrien can’t help but internally sigh as he vaults across the city, ‘I still can’t believe that Tikki _ate_ the akuma to purify it!’

‘S’not that special, kid. It’s just how she does it.’

The pounding of his leather clad, steel toed boots soothes Adrien’s slightly unsettled mind.

‘S’not that bad either. She just shoved it in her mouth. Then went all Avatar State on you.’

Adrien skids to a stop and furrows his brows. ‘Wow, Okay, Yeah, that completely looked like the Avatar State!’

With Plagg mentally snickering, Adrien moves on again. He can’t help but let the pounding of magically leather clad feet clear his mind. Within, what felt like, to Adrien, a few seconds, he lands across the street from the most famous bakery in Paris: The Tom and Sabine Boulangerie.

He takes a minute to look it over. It’s small, but well taken care of. He can smell all the pastries, cookies, cakes, all the goodness that comes with a bakery. He takes big sniffs of the wonderful smell. Oh, how he wishes he could be wrapped in this smell forever. Maybe they’re up for adoption?

The mental scoff tells him not to try. At least not yet.

Once Adrien is content, he drops down into an alley below. It never ceases to amaze him when he is completely silent.

Suddenly, there’s a sharp intake of breath from behind. Whipping around, arms raised defensively, he searches for the source of the gasp.

He finds Marinette, eyes wide, mouth hanging open.

With a quip on the tip of his tongue, he takes a step forward, but Marinette turns to look at the rest of the alley; effectively stealing the quip from his lips.

Hesitantly, he takes another step toward her, asking: “Hey... are you okay?”

Marinette doesn’t turn to him but hums her affirmation of stability.

“Marinette, are you okay?”

She takes a moment to respond. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. I just...” She turns back to him, her eyes not melancholic, or annoyed, or mad, but a dull mix of them all. “I just remember this alley. It’s - it’s like I was just in this alley an hour ago.”

“This... alley?” Adrien turns his gaze upon the alley, taking in the bricks and gunk, and sure enough, this was the alley.

The alley he had led them to, was the alley where all this madness began.

Well, where it all began for her. Adrien still can’t quite wrap his mind around the alternate timeline or the alternate universe that Marinette is suggesting.

But, nevertheless, this was where he took down the weird akuma. Nearly two weeks ago.

Adrien tries to think back to that akuma fight. _Now, I know how a handled that akuma. But... how was I alerted to his presence. If I remember correctly, a scre-_

His thoughts are cut off by a splitting headache, and intense mental screaming. His vision starts to fade to black for a short second, and when it returns, the screaming is reduced to whimpering, Adrien realizes that he’s moved a bit from the position he was in prior; and has his hand pressed against a wall, claws digging deep into the rock.

Marinette’s moved close to him, her mouth moving but no sound is coming out. Or maybe his brain isn’t allowing sound to be registered.

“- Are you okay?!” A moment later, his brain decides that it would like some worldly audio, and finally registers Marinette’s voice. “What happened?”

Adrien looks up, his vision a bit blurry, most likely due to the moisture threatening, ever so slightly, to spill from his eyes. She’s by his side, arms out but extending through his arms, her eyes full of concern. But her lips pulled into a frustrated line.

He wonders how it would feel to kiss it off-

‘Aaaugh! Noooooo! Don’t do that! Not while I’m here. _Get it away!_ ’ Ah, Yes, there is a god fused to his brain and body. How could he forget.

‘Oh, don’t you even start! That’s my job, you don’t get to be sarcastic!’

Rolling his eyes, he straightens up, and looks back at Marinette, into her eyes.

“It was nothing. Don’t worry about it!” He sends her a charming smile, wincing internally as another, small, dull spike of pain runs through it. “I’m all good... but, I might have a concussion. Anyway!” He makes sure to loosen up his features. Don’t want her getting the wrong idea; “Thank you. For being concerned.”

‘Nice. Drop the whole, “my father neglects me, and my life has been a living hell hole since my mother died, and no one likes me at all’ shtick. She’ll appreciate it. For sure.’

‘Not helping. Plus, that is not what’s happening, Father is just adjusting to the loss in a different way. Also, I’m not pulling that! How is me saying I might have a concussion even remotely close to any of that?’ Adrien half mumbles.

‘Just making up for lost time.’ He can feel the little god’s grin. But, also the hidden concern. He’ll keep that to himself.

“Wait, what? You have a concussion?!” Marinette asks, trying to put a hand on his head.

“Might, I might have one... I’m not sure. But I’m fine, really.”

“Really?” Marinette asks skeptically.

“Really,” Adrien reaffirms. “I’m all good. He spins around a few times, and jumps at the end, before turning back to her. “Nothing to worry about!” He says, making sure to give her a grin.

Marinette looks at him incredulously.

He challenges her skepticism with silliness. It always works.

Finally, after a few seconds, she relents with an eye roll.

“... Actually... there might be something to worry about...” he says, ducking his head to hide his grin.

“Adrien!” She calls, trying to beat his shoulder. But, when she brings her hand back to her side, she leans close to his face.

“I’m not sure the Dupain-Cheng’s would appreciate Pari’s only Superhero, Bringer of Destruction, waltzing into their bakery. At noon.” He says, looking up at her.

Marinette releases a relieved, yet annoyed sigh. Is that even _possible_?!

‘Yes, yes, it is. I get it from Tik all the time.’ Plagg helpfully chimes in.

“What,” Adrien chuckles lightly, “did you think I was going to say something detrimental about my health? That’s Plagg’s thing.”

‘Hey!’ Comes a mental retaliation.

Marinette sticks her tongue out at him.

Yes, that’s the Marinette he has seen. The sassy Marinette that makes his insides squirm with fondness and something m-

‘I SAID DON’T BRING THAT JUNK HERE! Leave it elsewhere, dirty human brain...”

He only chuckles mentally in return.

“Anyway, I need a way in. Without attracting attention.”

“Right,” Marinette nods, her eyes morphing from playful to deadly serious as she takes a moment to think.

It sparks something inside. Something he can’t place. A sense of Deja vu. Something that brings another dull spike of pain.

“I’ll be right back.” She calls a moment later, already moving toward the bakery.

Before he can even utter a confirmation, she’s flying off to the balcony terrace.

Now, Adrien is left to stew in his thoughts, with a rowdy kwami fused to his brain. Great.

There’s been a thought that won’t leave him alone for a while now. Guess it’s time to succumb to it?

‘Plagg, tell me about Ladybug. From what you’ve seen in the past.’

‘Well, the wielders of the Ladybug Miraculous don’t always go by Ladybug, but that’s not the point. They are chosen by the Guardian or Tikki, or both, for personality traits I don’t care for enough to remember. As Tikki is my counterpart, my yin, so is the wielder your counterpart. Usually the Black Cat Miraculous isn’t active without the Ladybug unless it is to retrieve it. Same vice versa. While we bring Destruction, Ladybug Creates. They are the only one that can purify corruption without any drawbacks and are the only one that can repair damage after a battle.’

‘Alright, so, the Ladybug miraculous are earrings, right?

‘Yeah... why?’

‘Well, don’t all miraculous change appearance when inactive? Like how your/my ring turns silver?’

‘Of course, it's part of the reason you weren’t immediately outed as Paris’ only savior.’

‘Okay, so, would you happen to know what the earrings look like while inactive?’

‘Yeah, but it’s been just a long time since I’ve seen them last, I can’t quite remember what they look like even when active...’

Time. Huh, perhaps in another timeline Adrien could remember them. ‘Marinette’s earrings. Don’t they, look-‘

All thoughts and senses are stopped when a headache more powerful than all the others _rips_ through his mind, scattering everything.

After a minute, audio returns to his brain. Whimpering is all he can hear. Whether it’s from the god in his head, or he himself, Adrien doesn’t know.

When feeling returns, he finds that he’s sitting on a surface, back against another surface, head held in clawed hands.

Vision returns next, but the alley is darker than he can remember, the light brighter than should be possible. Everything is blurry.

Whimpering still dominates his hearing.

Finally, smell returns, and the bakery serves to soothe his aching mind, body and soul. It always does. It just smells so _good_.

Then, thought function returns. Breathing is normal? Check. The surface that is surprisingly comfortable? The alley floor covered in grime. The surface which he is resting his head should be a brick wall. Should he look to make sure? Maybe. Does he want to? No. Too painful.

Now, what lead him here…? A girl, ghost girl. Yes, but not just that. She seemed to be from the future - no, not future, alternate timeline. Yes, the alternate timeline ghost girl.

Where is she?

Not here. She has a plan.

… She also has a name.

Marinette. Marinette is her name.

A smile creeps onto his lips.

Marinette. That’s a good name. Pretty name. For a pretty girl. Ghost girl.

Bakery...

Right, there is something in the bakery that could make Marinette not a ghost anymore!

But what crippled him. What caused him so much pain...?

Ladybug.

Lost to time and space. Hasn’t been found in years. But some leads are coming... hopefully. Tikki’s back, that’s a start.

But Marinette said there was another timeline. One where he worked alongside Ladybug. If that’s true, why can’t he remember her?

Why can’t he remember Ladybug? His counterpart. The better _him_.

The savior of Paris. Well, one part of a duo. Which occasionally becomes a trio, or quintet? According to what Marinette has said.

So confusing.

But... why can’t he remember her?

Memories of his dreams come back. Ones where he was working alongside his counterpart. In a brighter world. One with hope and joy and love. One with content. One where he was content.

But, Ladybug, she’s just a blur of red, with the occasional raven blue-black dash.

And... and the phrase My Lady. Why is that the case? Why would she be _his_ lady. They aren’t married, right? Dating? No, Marinette never let on that they were dating in the, weirdly enough, another timeline.

He tries to remember more. Tries to push out more, but all he forces out are strangled whimpers.

“Hey,” comes a soft, soothing voice. One that reminds him of his mother. One that brought safety, and love, and joy, and everything anyone could ask for. “It’s alright.” It says. And how can he not believe them? “Try not to think about it.”

And, heeding their advice, his eyesight becomes less blurry, hands and body shaking less erratically. Less unstable. Breathe evening out. It is okay. Nothing is hurting him. It’s alright.

“That’s it. Don’t think about it. It’s okay.” And, it really is. His head doesn’t hurt anymore, his body doesn’t ache as much. And, above all else. His mom is here...

After another moment, Adrien looks up, expecting to see his mother in all her glory and beauty, kneeling beside him, hugging him close.

But, reality hits, and bricks meet his searching gaze. When the weight in his shoulder and neck register, he looks over, and sees Tikki there. He can’t help but be disappointed. He misses his mother. The safety that she promised. The love.

But, with Tikki, he sees the same look, the same promise. One of protection. One of love forever. One of motherly concern. Even if it isn’t from a conventional mother. Or human.

“It’s alright.” She says, hugging his neck once more.

And, this time it is. Because, not only is Tikki, goddess of creation, and luck, hugging him, promising him all he has lacked; but so is his kwami, Plagg, god of destruction and misfortune, hugging him through their mental and physical link.

He’s loved, and protected, and wanted. And needed. And loved.

It’s such an amazing feeling. One he hopes to never lose again.

“Thank-“ his voice hitches on a sob, “Thank you. S-so much.” He utters softly, full of appreciation, for both kwami.

“Of course, Adrien. Of course.” Tikki replies, not letting go.

Plagg ceases his hug simulation but replaces it with a purr. ‘No problem. No one messes up my kit this bad without retaliation.’

Whatever it means, Adrien knows that Plagg means it. He cares. It’s a good feeling to know that he does. To know that he has the most powerful kwami in his corner, willing to help him through anything.

A few seconds later, after Adrien composes himself again, Marinette returns, a smile on her face. “There’s a padlock inside the attic keeping the trap door closed.”

Nodding, Adrien furrows his brows, tilting his head to the side. That... well, that doesn’t make much sense... “umm, Marinette, what - what does the padlock have to do with me getting in. I would really rather not turn their attic door to dust. It’s a bit mean.”

“You won’t have to!” Marinette says, her voice confident, eyes gleaming, hands on hips. Smirking, she adds: “You remember when I absorbed the Thinker’s thought, then redirected it into his helmet?”

Adrien’s brows furrow even more, blocking the very top of his vision, straining enough to start to give him a headache. Reluctantly, he nods in confirmation of memory.

“Well, I was thinking, that, you know, we could, maybe try Cataclysm like that?” She asks, the gleam in her eyes dulling, her hands falling from her hips, tilting her head down in slight sheepishness.

Adrien barks out a single note of laughter, “No. Nope, Nada. Not a chance. No. Absolutely _no_ using it on you.” Hopefully that conveys his unwillingness to do it.

“C’mon!” Marinette groans. Apparently, that did not convey his unwillingness to not Cataclysm her. Huh. “It won’t kill me”

“... probably.” She mutters after a second.

Plagg rolls his eyes, it’s a supremely weird feeling, but Plagg sends a feeling of approval toward his charge. “That’s reassuring. Great pep talk. Let’s do this.” Adrien replies sarcastically, while sending a mental glare at his kwami.

“Awesome! Follow me!” Marinette calls as she turns around, already floating toward the terrace.

“Hey! Don’t go, I didn’t agree to this!” Adrien calls after her, sending another glare at the kwami as laughter rings throughout his head.

He decides to ignore the weird looks from passerby’s, they don’t know the whole story. Let them think he’s weird.

Marinette doesn’t turn around, sending him an; “Of course you did, you’re a superhero!” Over her shoulder at him.

Sighing, Adrien ushers Tikki back into his collar, before jumping up onto the roof, then across to the bakery terrace.

When he lands, Marinette looks up from examining her nails. “Took you long enough.” He did not miss the teasing tone she used.

“Oh, shush.”

“Anyway, Cataclysm. Now.” She takes a step toward him, most likely trying to intimidate him; but her foot phases through the floor, effectively zeroing out her intimidation factor.

“Yeah... about that. Not gonna happen.” He says, taking a step back.

“Chat.” She deadpans.

“Nope. Never. Not even in your dreams.”

“ _Chat._ ” she growls out.

“No!” He replies stubbornly, bringing his hand to his chest.

_“Chat-Adrien-Agreste-Noir.”_

‘Ooooo! She used both names. You’re sooo in troooubleeee!’

Adrien sighs internally. He did not agree to the fusing of minds with his kwami. Sure, it’s useful sometimes, but most of the time is just really annoying.

“ _Adrien_.” Marinette growls again. Taking another step. This time, her foot not phasing through the floor... but... her other foot is still _in_ the floor. So, still not quite as intimidating. “Cat-a-cly-sm. Now.” She emphasizes each pause with a step toward him. Before long, Marinette is standing just a few centimeters before him.

“No! I’m not going to use Cataclysm-“ familiar destructive energy flows from the ring to envelope Adrien’s hand in black, bubbling energy. His face goes blank, sighing, tilting his face to the sky.

No, he will not give her this win. She did not win it. She’s a master of trickery and manipulation. She does not deserve his ultimate destruction power.

Expelling another sigh, he looks back to Marinette, an evil smirk on her lips.

She planned this to happen, _of course she did._

So, he does the only thing that comes to mind. “No.” He gives, childishly. She will _not_ be allowed to touch his hand. He turns his back to her, extending his hand out behind him, all the while glaring at her. “No...” he growls out again.

Marinette saunters up to him, stopping a centimeter before his nose. With her smirk even bigger, she walks through him! And before he can even react, as his body is now very cold, he feels the Cataclysm leave his hand, leaving him much colder almost sickeningly colder.

He can’t help but wince. For, Adrien’s world is now so cold it’s becoming dark, his body becoming empty. He can’t feel his body anymore. It’s like being forced into a skydiving simulator, except you can’t feel the wind at all.

Another thing he can’t help but do, is freak out. Adrien has never, ever, felt this cold before. It’s as if everything has been sucked out of him. Even Plagg isn’t talking or sending any mental readings.

Which is probably the weirdest. Plagg is _never_ quiet, unless he’s sleeping. And even then, the god emits these cute mewls every now and then.

Then, like the crack of a whip, Adrien snaps back to reality. He can’t stop shivering, his teeth clanking together uncontrollably, his entire body shaking erratically; but at least he can feel things again. Though Plagg is still silent, at least he’s sending a signal proving he’s still alive.

Adrien’s vision sharpens - when had it become so blurry it was unrecognizable?! - Marinette is looking down at her hands, her white aura becoming almost completely black. Like when white paint is mixed with a too dark black. Not being able to mix right and the black consumes almost all.

Marinette looks into Adrien’s eyes, and determination flickers through her eyes. As well as amusement.

And amazement. Or... was it relief?

“I’ll be right back.” She tells him. Then, she floats around him, making sure to touch nothing.

Adrien jolts as another powerful wave of sheer _coldness_ runs through his veins. He watches Marinette float to the trapdoor, floating down through it, warping the door ever so slightly.

It’s a creepy sight.

Another, even more powerful wave of cold overtakes Adrien, and his transformation drops. Effectively doubling his shivering as he drops to the floor.

A shaking Plagg drops down into his lap.

“P-p-plagg, why a-are we shiver-ing so b-bad.”

“Ug-gh,” Plagg shakes his entire body, curling up tighter. “I h-ate this. W-Whenever you use cat-aclysm it absorbs whatever y-you destroy. With g-ghosts or spirits, that’s d-different. S-Since they aren’t tangible, c-cataclysm can’t a-absorb them, and they end up a-absorbing the cataclysm. R-Right now, you are ex-periencing what hap-pens when the Property of E-Energy Conversion is thrown out the w-window. It works the same way for m-m-me, since I supply you with your C-Cataclysm. H-Hot baths usually help th-is pass faster.” Plagg says, scooting shakily further up Adrien’s lap.

For the next few seconds, Plagg shakily makes his way up into Adrien’s shirt pocket, where Tikki is situated. Warmth begins to spread, ever so slightly, from his pocket.

Then, just a second later, the air around him drops familiarly, most likely due to Marinette’s return. Plagg telling him that Marinette has returned and it’s all good to go, confirms his thoughts.

Shakily, Adrien stands up and, on wobbling legs, walks over to the trap door. Bending down, he wraps an unsteady hand around the handle, and pulls. Adrien is met with a resistance he wasn’t expecting, which makes him stumble a bit, but he continues to pull, using his stumbling momentum to pull the trap door free of its frame.

Adrien rests a, still shaking, - what the heck! C’mon body! Push through this! - orange sneaker on the first ring of the ladder beneath the door, and hesitantly takes the next few before reaching up and pulling the trap door closed.

Well, as closed as it will go. There is still a small crack, as it will not conform to the frame anymore.

Once he’s off the ladder and on the attic floor, Adrien looks around the attic, making sure his eyes adjust to the darkness.

There is a strange feeling in the attic. Like he shouldn’t be here. Like this should not be seen. It should be forgotten. Like the others. _Become the forgotten._

A headache starts to rear its ugly head, so, Adrien resorts to his last tool. Nothing. He sets all his thoughts and worries and emotions aside, and let’s _nothing_ rein.

After a few seconds, the pain is gone, and he lets normal brain function return.

Ah, nothing is such a great tool to have at the ready.

Adrien continues to look around, but something catches his eye. Tilting his head, he takes a closer look at that something.

A baby crib. A pink one at that.

Maybe it’s the cat in him, or maybe he’s just that sheltered life he’s been forced to live, Adrien doesn’t know, but his curiosity is piqued.

His curiosity of the room, how this all began, anything, everything is overshadowed by his newfound curiosity for the baby crib.

He just can’t look away.

Walking closer, Adrien kneels beside the crib, he sees the outline of a hand in the side of the crib. Other, fainter lines around the handprint. Like string was placed against the dust.

Looking at the handprint, a small smile slips onto Adrien’s lips as he sees a tiny hot pink handprint inside the dust handprint. The tiny handprint is set inside of a bigger, purple handprint. Though, this purple handprint is just barely smaller than the dust handprint.

Looking even closer, he can make out a dull, really big, blue handprint that the purple one is set in.

It’s a wonderful sight. One that holds power. He can practically feel it.

It’s a power he hasn’t felt in a long time. The power of a family, a loving family.

He looks up from the handprints, and a picture catches his attention. One set inside of the crib.

* * *

 

Once the padlock had been destroyed, and Plagg and Company informed, Marinette starts to float back down through the trap door.

She only stops when she sees Adrien stand up, shaking like crazy. The urge to rush over to him, and hug him is almost too strong to resist, but she must. She’ll just get more depressed when her arms phase through his body once more.

It really is a depressing fate the akuma has put her in.

She closes her eyes and sinks the rest of the way down into the attic. Luckily, the molasses like aura hasn’t returned, but the room is radiating a dangerous feeling. One she just can’t quite ignore.

One that’s Looming. Watching. Judging. Like there are creatures in all corners of the room, invisible, intangible, but still emitting a dangerous aura.

She floats over to the crib and sits down cross-legged. She’ll wait for him to come. Then, she’ll tell her story. Her hypothesis.

They’ll get her back. She’ll be good to go in no time.

A grunt has Marinette turning her gaze to the trap door, where Adrien silently slips through, his limbs still shaking; and, with another grunt, pulls it almost shut.

With shaking legs, he makes it down the ladder.

Adrien looks around the room, face contorting into confusion. As to what he’s confused about - she can only guess. Maybe he can feel the aura, too?

Then Adrien’s face slowly morphs into a wince, where it stays for about a second, before going blank. For a few seconds, his expression remains blank, his eyes closed.

When he opens them again, the pain is replaced with appreciation. He then continues to look around the room and, after a few seconds, he locks onto the baby crib.

His body seems to, impossibly, loosen and tense at the same time. Like he wants to just walk over to it and look at it closer and he knows that he wants to, but can’t, and it somehow soothes him.

With a tilt of the head, he gives into temptation. His pupils blown wide, he slowly walks over to the crib, eyes locked on, never moving from it.  

As Adrien walks closer, his knees bend, and bend, until he’s shuffling on the ground toward the crib.

When within range, he stops, and leans in toward the crib.

A small smile creeps onto Adrien’s face the longer he looks at the crib, and Marinette can’t help but smile too.

He’s just so pure that it’s contagious.

No, no, he isn’t pure. He’s made mistakes before, like any normal human being. He can snap. And, he’s in a pretty bad relationship with his father too.

He isn’t pure, but dang is he great, amazing and wonderful!

“Hey, there are four handprints here.” Adrien’s glorious—no, bad Marinette! It’s just a wonderful voice that you could listen to for time and eter-NO! Stop it! He’s human, for heaven’s sake! —voice breaks her from her thoughts.

_Four handprints? Last I remember, there was only the one I made in the dust._

She says as much.

As Plagg repeats what was said, Marinette can’t help but notice the tiny quiver in Plagg’s voice or lean around the crib to see what Adrien was talking about.

Aaaaaannnnd, yep, there are four handprints. There is a big, blue handprint, a smaller, purple handprint laid on top of the blue, and a tiny, hot pink hand print set in the middle of the red one. Then, the most obvious one, since it clears the dust away from the smaller purple and pink ones, the dust handprint lays just in between the blue and the purple.

“Yeah, there are three other handprints. One blue, one purple, one hot pink. Then the dust one.”

“Huh.” Marinette replies, her voice not quite wanting to make more words.

“Would it be okay if I touched the crib?” Adrien asks, looking around the room for her, even though he knows he can’t see her.

He’s just the sweetest, best person ever!

Plagg echoes her permission.

Slowly, reverently, Adrien wipes away the dust around the handprints, erasing the dust print. What it leaves is a dark blue handprint, a light purple handprint, and the hot pink print.

A smile pulls at her lips. Oh, how she remembers how her parents told her about how they made those handprints. It’s one of her favorite stories.

When Marinette looks back at Adrien, his hand is holding open his shirt, looking inside at the two kwami. His expression showing him being confused.

Then slowly, he rises. But, instead of turning, he takes a small step closer to the crib, and bends over.

Marinette stands as Adrien straightens back up, a picture in his hand.

Looking around his arm, she gets a clear picture of the photo. It’s a picture of Papa with a crocheted beanie on his head, a little bit too big. He’s smiling down at a little girl, a hot pink beanie on her head. This girl is positively _beaming_ at the camera.

She can’t quite remember what it’s like to have unadulterated, child-like joy anymore, but she does remember that day.

A tear escapes an eye as the memory plays out in her head. She was about four years old and had finally finished crocheting the beanie. It didn’t look all that good, but she thought it did at the time, and she was so proud and happy that she _made_ it _herself_! With pure happiness, she made her way to Papa, and shyly presented it to him.

With sheer fatherly joy and pride, he slipped it onto his head and pulled her into his arms.

After a few seconds, Maman had asked for a picture.

Her memory is different from what the picture depicts, but only slightly. She never wore a pink beanie inside. Only outside during winter.

This is the only picture she has seen in her parents’ house that has her in it. And if its in an old baby crib, well, that can only mean one thing, right?

She looks over to Adrien, knowing that he can’t see her eyes, but maybe, just maybe, he can feel the joy families are supposed to have in their lives.

She catches the sight of Plagg’s adorable green eyes peeking out of the shirt at her. Full of sympathy and sadness.

Plagg raises a single, sad eyebrow. A silent question. ‘Should I tell them, or should I wait for you and then allow Adrien to comfort you via my leather?’

She nods and lets a few more tears fall. Hopefully, he gets the: ‘I probably won’t be able to talk for a bit, go ahead and tell them.’

Plagg’s gaze softens further as he nods slightly, then turns back to look at his counterpart and his charge.

“We, ah, we think that this picture… Well, we think it means something happened. Something bad. And this thing should explain why she isn’t supposed to be in this timeline.” Plagg says, his voice tender and hesitant. Adrien looks to Tikki, his gaze full of sadness, and confusion, as well as a want to understand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will all come to a close soon. For a while I have been lacking the motivation to finish this up, but I am getting back into the grove. Chapter 9 is going into revisment, as well as chapter 10. I've had Chapter 11 written for some time now, but it didn't match the rest of the fic, so I decided to go through the other chapters and make them match chapter 11. Hopefully I can get this finished before summer is over!


	9. The Heist of a Stranger's Bakery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With ideas on why Marinette isn't in this timeline, Adrien voices his idea for his crazy plan. He calls it a heist. It really isn't quite a heist. He's just always wanted to say the word heist. Tikki comes to find something weird.

Marinette is frozen in place, staring at the photo clutched in Adrien’s hands. After a moment, she looks up to his chest. Plagg is looking between her and the photo; his cat like eyes full of sadness. And why wouldn’t they be? She’s stuck in limbo, isolated from everything and everyone but the embodiment of destruction in a cat like form, and his charge when transformed. She’s been almost completely forgotten. And now, well, they’ve found something that can give them answers as to why she isn’t in this timeline.

Marinette moves her gaze from Plagg to Tikki. Her kwami. Her companion of three almost four years. All memories of their time together - completely erased. Fading more and more the longer they wait because the kwami is connected to the earrings, which are residing in her earlobes. In limbo. Tikki can’t see or hear her, so she's completely focused on Plagg.

Marinette then moves her gaze to Adrien. Her silly, adorable, strong, brave, selfless cat of a partner - reduced to an abused, deadly serious, cold, solo savior of Paris; tasked with taking care of dangerous akuma by himself and keeping civilians from dying. While, yes, some of the personality Marinette has been accustomed to comes out when talking to her, it’s very rare. She hasn’t even heard a pun in a long time. Hasn’t heard his laugh either. He’s a shell of what he was - no, could be.

She _can’t_ dwell on this. She just can’t. If she does, she’ll end up removing her earrings, and everything will be lost. Sure, they could finally have a ladybug, but everyone she loves, Adrien, Tikki, would be stuck in this horrid timeline.

So, steeling herself, Marinette turns from them to look for something to occupy her mind. Maybe even find some proof of the only explanation for her to not be here.

She floats over to a box nearby, looking at the labels on the side. Searching for something that catches her eye. Plagg is still watching her, she can _feel_ it like a pressure inside her head. His piercing gaze following her every move. Finally, the pressure disappears, and Marinette can’t help but be relieved. She can think in peace now. She can leave all the explanations to Plagg.

“Well, Plagg, what is it?” For the first time ever, Tikki sounds impatient.

“Ah, well, it’s nothing definitive...”

“Go on”

Marinette quirks a brow. Tikki really is impatient. Plagg is also quite awkward, for the first time she can even remember from her chats with Chat - ha, the stupid cat, winding his claws into her mind even now - and from the few times she’s been in the same room as the cat. It’s astounding. Shaking her head, she turns her attention back to the cluster of boxes and labels to double check. Unfortunately, this cluster of boxes is labeled for old bakery supplies. She moves to another cluster.

“Yeah, okay, so...” a deep breath. “This picture... it holds a certain energy, yes?”

Marinette pauses in her search as that. Thinking back on it, yes, yes it did. She didn’t realize at the time, since she was more focused on her memories. Even now, she feels compelled to go to it, even just thinking about it.

“... yeah, it kind of does” Adrien’s hesitant to answer. Why? She almost turns around, but a label catches her attention. ‘Memories’

_Yes, that’s where proof will be_! she moves to the box. But is stopped by Plagg’s further explanation.

“Yeah, okay, so this is where akuma magic is quite strong in presence. Which means that it is very significant.” A slight pause, with two duel intakes of breath, as if two beings were about to speak at the same time. “This is relevant, I promise!” Plagg sighs. “This means something big has changed. And it’s not good. Usually, families hang pictures of their kids in their home, in the hallways and all that, right kid?”

“Yeah, from what I’ve seen from Nino’s house.”

“So, ask yourself. Why is this here. If anything, it should be in a scrap book somewhere easily accessible. _Why is it in the attic, in a dusty baby crib that hasn’t been touched for years?_ ”

Nice point Plagg. She wouldn’t have been able to do that, even thinking about it now brings a stinging to her eyes. She moves to go to the box again, seeing as the others are silent and most likely pricing it together.

“Guys, Marinette is probably dead in this alternate universe.”

Marinette’s movements come to a screeching halt as Plagg’s words reach her ears.

Whipping around, she lets out a shocked, involuntary: “Alternate Universe?!” 

She meets Plagg’s unreadable gaze with slight anger. “We aren’t in the marvel comics! We aren’t in fiction!”

Plagg raises, what she thinks is an eyebrow, at her. “Really? Girl, you are talking to two floating, magical creatures, both whom are as old as the universe itself. One being a cat! This boy here,” Plagg points a paw at Adrien, “can become a superhero! A literal superhero! By sucking the embodiment of Destruction, Bad Luck and Death into a silver ring! Which was given to him by a 190-year-old, Chinese man. Alternate Universes aren’t the strangest thing you’ve seen.”

“... not to mention the crazed Moth man who takes over people’s minds, gives them powers, and demands that they fight a child for magical jewelry.” Adrien adds shyly, his voice overlapping her shy addition of: “he’s not the only one who can become a superhero.”

Plagg’s eyes widen, his ears perking up, undoubtedly hearing what she said.

“Wait, what?” Plagg floats a bit closer to Marinette, his pupils narrowing slightly.

Her blood runs cold, her face is undoubtedly pale. She tries to open her mouth to say something, but Adrien cuts her off. She has never been more grateful for him.

“Hey, what’s that?” Adrien is pointing to a box labeled ‘Memories’.

Plagg looks at her, flares and mouths ‘We are _not_ done.’ Then floated over to Adrien. Reluctantly, Marinette follows, too.

“Do you want me to look?” Plagg looks to Adrien, his eyes hopeful.

“What? No! Those are Marinette’s Parents’ stuff!”

“So, they won’t know!”

As the boys argue, Marinette stick her head inside the box.

What she finds, are photo albums.

_These could be promising!_ She pulls back and tunes back to Plagg.

“Plagg!” She calls, her voice so loud it’s almost a shout. Plagg startles and his ears flatten against his head, but he turns around to glare at her. “Stop arguing and look at this.” Marinette makes sure her voice is more subdued.

Plagg raises a brow.

She huffs.

“I found a thing. It’s a good thing!” With an eye roll, Plagg floats to her, and tells Adrien and Tikki to follow.

With Plagg by her head, Tikki in her head (it’s a weird feeling that she does _not_ want to dwell on), and Adrien behind her, Plagg cocks his head to the side, his whiskers and ears flopping to the same side. “Okay, whatcha want?”

Marinette purses her lips, but let’s it slide in favor of furthering their progress.

“Right, so this box. It has some photo albums that could tell us what happened to me… her… me, Alternate Timeline Me.” She tries to pat the box that contains the albums, but her hand goes right through it, which throws her off balance and soon she finds her arm and half her torso phases through the box.

Plagg snickers. She glares at him but floats out from the box.

“Okay. She wants us to open a box. She says there is something inside that she wants to see.” Plagg stares at her glare. He’s unaffected. She’ll try better next time.

“Uh, I’m... not really comfortable with going through a stranger’s personal stuff.” Adrien pauses, “It’s not like I don’t want to get you back Marinette! It’s just - I don’t feel right going through other people’s private stuff. Even if they are your parents. Not without permission.” Adrien ducks his head, a hand going to the back of his head. For the first time ever, Marinette really wishes Adrien would abandon his manners.

“Well, I’m giving you permission! It’s not like I haven’t seen this stuff before!” She huffs out. “And even if I haven’t seen any of what’s inside the albums, they’re my parents!” She takes a step toward Adrien. “I want to see them,” she pleads, “I haven’t looked at them for quite a while, I need to see them. I need good memories...” Now her eyes are starting to sting. Normally she’d be afraid she’ll cry but being stuck in limbo has made it nearly impossible to cry. “I want to know what happened to me...” her voice is small. She barely recognizes it.

Before Plagg can repeat any of that, Adrien speaks. “This is an alternate universe, right?” His facial features are thoughtful, almost deep in thought.

“Yes.” Plagg pointedly looks at Marinette. But his soul isn’t in it, seeing as she’s on the verge of almost crying.

“I have an idea. It’s a bit crazy though.” Adrien’s thoughtful expression turns into one of determination and mischief. His smirk showing that he is quite confident in his crazy idea.

“Before we do anything crazy, Marinette has something to say.” Plagg says, zipping over to Adrien and alighting on his shoulder.

“No, I don’t!”

Plagg glares at her, sending a clear, ‘tell them or I will. And I will _not_ sugar coat anything.’

Marinette gulps.

“Y-you’ll want to have Adrien transform for this. H-he’s the one who needs to hear this.”

Plagg nods slightly, and then, a moment later, Adrien is suited up in black leather and cat ears.

“Plagg said you have something to say?” He sits down, crossing his legs. Marinette mimics her partner. Here goes nothing.

She takes a deep breath. “You know when I told you about Ladybug...?” Marinette starts.

“Yeah...”

“Well, I uh... I - it wasn’t, completely... true.” She ducks her head, wincing.

“Please explain?” Adrien’s voice is gentle and soft. She can’t bring herself to look at his face. It would break her when he knows.

“Pretty much everything I said about Ladybug was real, was the truth. Just, mostly the akuma attack that started all of this. And why Tikki is still here but fading...”

“... okay, do we get to know the truth?”

“ _Please_ don’t be mad. I was scared. I still am...”

“Hey...” His gaze fills her with warmth, but she still refuses to meet it. “I’m not mad, I won’t be mad. I promise.” He says it with such finality, Marinette finds it hard to not believe.

“I-I’m - Ladybug did get hit, but not after me, or before me. You don’t have a ladybug because of me... because if I’m not here, Ladybug isn’t either.” She pauses to steady her breathing. “Because I- I am Ladybug.”

The only response she gets is silence. It’s suffocating. And Adrien’s gaze goes from a soothing warmth to burning.

Unable to take it any longer, Marinette sneaks a peek at her partner, expecting to see anger and hatred. Only to be met with shock, with something else hidden behind it.

“You... are...”

“Yeah. I’m Ladybug... I was alerted to an akuma due to... something... something in the air alerted me to the akuma. I can’t remember. But, as I ran into an alley to transform, I ran into the akuma, but I didn’t see him at the time. That’s when-“ Her voice hitches as his gaze doesn’t change. “That was when he touched me. I didn’t have time to transform, so, while Tikki is here I am in limbo. As for my idea as to why Tikki is fading... kwami are connected to their miraculous. The reason I am not completely gone is because of Tikki. But Tikki is fading because I still have the earrings. This is all my fault.” That seems to break something in Adrien, as his shock turns to annoyance. “Tikki is going to fade because of me, but if I remove the earrings she’ll be okay but I don’t want to be gone and I’m going to make everyone lose Ti-“

“No. Stop.” Adrien cuts her off. His gaze determined.

“You did _not_ choose this.” His gaze sharpens, but no negative emotions show. “You were stunned by the Akuma’s powers and that made everyone weakened. Then, when you ran to help, the akuma caught you of guard and took action before you could react.” His features and tone soften. “You did not choose this you could not have chosen this. You chose right to keep the earrings. If you took them off, we have no clue what would happen. Would they disappear forever with you, or would they materialize into the real world? We don’t know. You didn’t and don’t want to be lost, and neither do we want to lose you. Ladybug seemed like the most selfless, bravest person ever. Knowing you are her, only cements that fact, just from the few hours I’ve known you.”

Adrien scoots a bit closer. “ _We are going to get you back. We will **not** lose you._ ”

Tears are falling down Marinette’s cheeks, her eyes burning, and heart full of love for this boy in front of her. For her partner.

“Okay...” She whispers.

Adrien gives her a warm, genuine smile. “Alright, are you ready to hear my crazy plan to get you back?

* * *

 

 

“So, are you in?” Adrien stops his pacing to turn to the two kwami, and hopefully Marinette, putting his hands on his hips and puffing his chest out. Sure, they didn’t understand why he wanted to de-transform, but honestly, he gets a weird feeling being Chat Noir in this attic. So, he’d really rather not stay transformed for too long.

Plagg and Tikki look at each other, sharing a silent conversation. With slight nods, Tikki turns to Adrien confirms her support.

Plagg turns around and looks to empty space. Well, empty space for Adrien. For Plagg, Marinette should be meeting his gaze.

A second later, Plagg confirms both his and Marinette’s supports.

“Alright, let’s go!”

He climbs the ladder to the trap door, happy that he is no longer shaking; Plagg and Tikki zip into his shirt pocket. He doesn’t know where Marinette is, but he’s certain she is right behind him. Or already on the balcony.

Adrien opens the trap door with little effort and climbs out. With slow movements, he closes the trap door, doing his best to get it all the way into the frame. It doesn’t really work.

Adrien closes his eyes, and just takes in the smells from the bakery, and the feel of fresh air on his skin, through his hair. Relishing the sun’s warm rays.

When he opens his eyes again, he sets his anxiety and fears aside, and lets determination reign.

Adrien looks to Plagg, and they share a nod. Plagg floats out of his pocket, and Adrien holds his fist out to the little god. With a grin, Plagg bumps his fist against Adrien’s and the familiar magic flashes around him, running up and down his body. Enhancing his senses and abilities. Destructive power running through his veins. The weird, judging feeling isn’t here anymore, it feels really, really nice. Like he’s free to be free again.

Floating just off to his side, Marinette gives him an encouraging look.

Adrien pulls his baton from its holster and opens his map feature, looking for the closest hardware store.

With one found and pinned, he turns the map to Marinette, and with a nod, she flies off.

Adrien takes another look at the map to make sure he remembers the location, then leaps off the terrace onto neighboring roofs.

As he runs across rooftops, Adrien slides into his thoughts, allowing his muscles to take over.

This plan _has_ to work. For if it doesn’t, they will lose not only Marinette for forever, but the Ladybug miraculous, as well as Tikki. And he’d be able to do nothing but watch them go.

Reaching the store, Adrien looks for a nearby alley that will provide enough cover.

Dropping down behind a dumpster, Adrien releases his transformation and ushers Tikki and Plagg into his shirt pocket. He walks over to the alley opening, and stops, looking both ways to make sure no one is around to see him walk out of the alley. And, to make sure that Marinette is there with him. He might have sent her ahead of himself, but he’d like to have her there with him.

The familiar cold starting to grasp his insides is his confirmation.

With a smile on his face, he slips around the corner and walks into the store.

“Plagg,” Adrien whispers down to his shirt pocket, just loud enough for the cat to hear him, “tell me if Marinette finds the padlock first, please?” The only response is a small par from the pocket. His smile grows just a nod bigger as he walks further into the store, toward where he thinks the padlocks should be.

As he gets closer, he grows steadily warmer, indicating that Marinette has split off to go find the padlock.

Looking for padlocks, as it turns out, is difficult when you’ve never been to a hardware store in your entire life. So, after a few minutes, Adrien can’t help but feel accomplished at just being _able_ to find the security section.

And, honestly, who knew there were _so many_ padlocks?!

After about a minute, Adrien comes to a part of the section that looks to have padlocks similar to that which he needs to find. Upon closer inspection, he finds that it is not what he needs. He can’t help but release a disappointed sigh.

Then, Plagg’s hushed voice reaches his magically enhanced ears. “Marinette’s found it; it should be the next aisle over.”

For the next minute, Adrien follows the lazily repeated Instructions from Plagg. When, finally, he grabs the one he needs, Adrien releases a relieved breath. The padlock comes with a key.

Relishing in the familiar, colder than normal, feeling of Marinette being close by; Adrien walks up to a self-checkout lane, a smile on his face, and his confidence in his absolutely crazy, out of this timeline idea, begins to climb. When all the necessary transactions are complete, Adrien walks out of the store and back into the alley.

When behind the dumpster, he releases a laugh. _How_ had no one noticed him?! He isn’t even wearing a disguise!  Sure, he isn’t wearing what most pictures have him wearing: blue jeans, orange high-top, Gabriel sneakers, black t-shirt with three (technically five) colored stripes, and white overshirt; he’s wearing a darker colored pair of jeans, grey Gabriel sneakers, dark green cut-to-fit t-shirt and black overshirt with the sleeve’s rolled up. Granted, his hair is a bit messy, but he isn’t wearing any glasses or sunglasses.

Maybe it’s because of Tikki, providing him with the luck he needs. Blessing him with the ability to be looked at like a normal person, and not the teenage heartthrob everyone falls for just for his mandated looks.

Or the perfume.

Taking a deep breath, he calls Tikki out of his shirt pocket and calls up his transformation, glad that it doesn’t envelope the padlock package. He isn’t sure where his clothes go when transformed, but he sure doesn’t want to risk losing the padlock. Dropping the padlock into his pocket, (which, by the way, he’s found to have the space of a black hole!) and looks up to Marinette.

This girl has been through hell and back. Has been isolated, unable to talk to or interact with anyone for nearly two weeks. Has been tortured with the knowledge that she can hear what the people she’s around are saying but can never interact with. Cursed to know that while not wanting to disappear forever and leave all she loves to this new timeline; she is inadvertently causing the potential complete loss of creation.

About half of this plan rests on her ghostly shoulders. But he can’t find it within himself to be scared or doubt her abilities. Because, according to her, this plan rests on Ladybug’s shoulders. And an indescribable gut feeling tells him that she can handle anything thrown her way.

In order to make sure that the Dupain-Cheng’s don’t find out that their attic has been broken into, they need to replace the Cataclysmed padlock with an identical one and replace the old key with the new one.

While Marinette finds out how to execute her part, the rest of this plan rest on himself, Plagg, and Tikki.

Nodding, Marinette zips away, off to the bakery to find out what she needs. Leaving Adrien to vault himself over rooftops and streets to her balcony. Before doing so, he makes sure Tikki is comfortably settled in his collar. Roughly a minute later, he lands on the balcony with barely any sound and releases his transformation, the padlock reforming itself into his hands. An action he will not question but be grateful for.

Miraculously, ( _ugh, this concussion is really getting to me_ ) no one in Paris has spotted Chat Noir, nor Adrien Agreste, which is incredible, considering it isn’t even that late; around 16:00. Which means that a certain being of pure luck is going to get a _lot_ of cookies later.

Holding the padlock out to Plagg, the little god makes quick work of the plastic encasing the padlock and key. With Adrien holding the key, Plagg and Tikki take ahold of the padlock and phase through the wood floor of the terrace to the attic.

A few seconds later, Tikki and Plagg float out looking victorious. Good, now comes the _fun_ part. Yay...

Steeling himself for the inevitable, he reaches for his head, cringing all the way. Once he has a hand deep in his luxurious mane (shh, yes, he calls it his mane. And sure, Father may make it a requirement and makes sure his hair is soft and mailable and in perfect condition, as well as keeping it at a certain length, never deviating more than 2 centimeters in length from the ‘advertisement’ look) of hair. He grasps onto a single strand, and... hesitates. He has never pulled a strand of hair out before, he hasn’t even tried to comb his hair a different way than what father wants, much less try to pluck a single strand out! If father ever found out...

That thought alone spurs Adrien to pluck the strand of hair out without any more hesitation. _Screw Father and his stupid rules, I’m a freakin’ superhero, I’m the only savior of Paris, Bringer of Destruction, I will not be brought down because - heaven forbid! - I pull a **single strand of hair** from my perfect mane of hair and **ruin** the perfect picture of Agreste perfection!_ *Dramatic gasp*

_Yeah... well, screw you Father._

He hands the strand of blonde hair to Plagg and he phases through the floor, hopefully he’s able to create the dust they need. A few moments later, Plagg floats back up, _dusting_ off his paws.

_Ugh, two times now. Something really is wrong._

With a silent nod exchanged between the human and kwami, Adrien hands the key to Tikki and calls up his transformation. Once magical leather is settled, and Tikki settled comfortably into his collar against his neck, Adrien takes a second to collect his thoughts and get all the craziness out.

Yeah, it feels good - great actually - to have a small body of warmth pressed against his skin. Now he can understand why people want a pet! It feels even better with all his senses enchanted. The cold metal of the key also pressed against his neck provides a soothing contrast against Tikki’s warmth.

With a steadying breath, Adrien finally takes in his surroundings for real. Earlier, there were a lot of people out and about, which hasn’t changed much. But, somehow, the sun was in _just_ the right position to create shadows _just_ long enough to help conceal himself. To keep himself hidden.

After another minute, when all his thoughts are reined in, Adrien looks to the ground. Normally, this sidewalk is bustling with pedestrians but, right now, there aren’t any. Cars aren’t even driving by.

Tikki is going to get _all_ the cookies he can get his hands on for this.

So, Adrien drops down to the concrete, grateful that his powers make his footfalls silent, he steps to the bakery door and opens it to peer inside.

He was expecting to not see as many customers as there normally would be, but what met his sight shocked him: where he expected to see roughly 5 costumers minimum, not an empty shop.

Stepping further into the shop, the door closes (had he held the door open?) and the bell above the door rings. A second later, a small Chinese woman with raven blue hair walks out from the door leading to, what seems to be, the ovens; and gives a small gasp, resting her hand over her heart, upon seeing Chat Noir standing at the door, in their bakery.

“I’m so sorry!” Adrien immediately tries to calm her, “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

The woman shakes her head, her breath evening out a bit more, “No, no, it’s fine. You have nothing to worry about, I was just not expecting to have you here. What do you need?” Her voice is soothing, like what Adrien’s mother’s used to be.

“I need to talk to Madame and Monsieur Dupain-Cheng. It’s extremely important.”

Her eyes widen for a fraction of a second, then she nods solemnly and heads to the bakery door, flipping the ‘Open’ sign to ‘Closed’

“Oh! If it’s a bad time I can come back later.”

The petite woman looks to him with a warm smile. “No need, I was actually coming to close up shop when I saw you. Come, follow me.”

She walks to another door, close to the Door she had walked through just a minute ago. She opens it and stops, looking back to the stunned superhero. She gives him a warm smile, and waves to him.

This breaks Adrien from his stupor and he quickly catches up to her.

Just as Adrien passes through the door frame, he pauses, a thought the cause of his sudden confusion. “Um, forgive me for asking, madame, I just have a few questions. I’ve heard that this is the best bakery is Paris, don’t bakeries normally close later? Would Mme. and M. Dupain-Cheng be upstairs?”

“Oh,” the woman turns around, her smile still there, but slightly dimmed, “all is forgiven, my husband is upstairs, he is preparing dinner for us, I was just wrapping things up. So, yes, we will be upstairs. To answer your first question, yes, bakeries normally close sooner, but we close our due to... personal reasons.” The warm smile falters a bit, melancholy peeking through, her eyes shimmering slightly with sadness.

Adrien gives her a warm smile, hoping that his matches the warmth in hers and portrays his gratitude.

With that, Mme. Dupain-Cheng turns around and continues up the stairs, but also continues to speak, unlike his own father.

People he meets tend to be stark contrast to Father.

“I’ll need to tell Tom that you need to talk to us and help him clean up the kitchen.” She stops on a step, turning to him, “Would you like some dinner, I know it’s awfully early for dinner, but we should have enough.”

If their cooking is as good as their baking, he would risk his own identity to eat more, but... “I wouldn’t want to impose.” Hopefully he’s successfully masking his hunger.

“Oh, please, I insist! It’s the least we can do to show you our gratitude and support!” She waves off his concern, smiling at him. Maybe he didn’t mask his hunger well enough?

Walking further up the stairs, singing becomes apparent, a joyful voice rumbling out incoherent lyrics.  As Mme. Dupain-Cheng walks further up the stairs toward the door at the top, Adrien stops, wanting to listen to the singing for a bit longer.

It sparks a feeling deep within him, one he’s been repressing for years. Since his mother’s disappearance. It’s been so long since he’s heard singing in his house from anything but Plagg and the tv.

He welcomes the burning behind his eyes for a minute, relishing in the sound of a wife joining her husband in singing. Joining her partner in anything, because that’s what partners do, right?

He wouldn’t mind doing everything with Marinette...

Shaking his head, and wincing slightly at the pain, he steels himself, boxing his emotions away for a later time when he can properly process them. Right now, he needs to tell Marinette’s parents that they are all living in an alternate timeline, and that their daughter really isn’t dead; and that he needs to borrow their baby crib to get their daughter back.

Fun.

Taking a deep breath, he makes his way to the door, the happy, joyful singing not faltering, just a constant sound of happiness. He reaches the door, and extends his hand to the doorknob, but hesitates. Did Mme. Dupain-Cheng say he could just come in? Isn’t that a bit rude though? But, if she told him to, is it inappropriate to not come in? A pat on his neck brings Adrien from his thoughts, and really, Tikki is awesome. Maybe she’s the one making Plagg quiet?

‘Nope, nobody makes me quiet. I’m just making sure I don’t mess with your head or thoughts so that you stay focused.’

Hmm, it was worth the shot.

He wraps his hand around the knob but hesitates again. After a second’s deliberation, he knocks on the door instead.

The singing stops, and Adrien can’t help but be sad about that, as footsteps sound; coming closer to the door. A second later, the door opens to reveal a big, easily 6’5” with a massive build, wearing an apron black shirt and grey slacks. A beanie, one that Adrien is absolutely _certain_ he has seen before, rests on his head. His eyes widen slightly, most likely from shock, before crinkling to match the warmth of his smile.

“Come in, come in!” The huge man beckons.

How can he resist an order from a man such as him?

Walking in behind the man - Tom Dupain-Cheng perhaps? - Adrien gets a view of their living space. Along the hall, there are tons of family pictures, but none of Marinette. Maybe they’re in some other room, not meant for visitors? To the left is the kitchen/dining room. It’s such a small space! How...? H-how… he can’t even properly ask himself the question. Maybe other people aren’t accustomed to living in a _much_ to big room?

Further in is the living room, a TV, coffee table, console and other appliances make the space seem simultaneously much too small, and just the right size.

The room smells just like what he would have expected a room to smell if it was located above a bakery. Sugar, spices, and everything nice. Not a hint of the coldness that oppresses the mansion.

Sitting by the coffee table, Mme. Dupain-Cheng is sitting with her hands clasped on her lap, looking at him intently.

As M. Dupain-Cheng sits beside his wife, Adrien looks around the room for something to help instigate what he is sure to be an emotional conversation.

A second later, a photo catches his attention. On the game table, just in front of the TV is a photo of a little Marinette. Her smile lighting up the entire room. She seems to be roughly 8 years old in this, and is in a hospital gown, a birthday cake sitting beside her, her too big, hot pink beanie resting on her head. The cake doesn’t seem to be professionally made, which leads Adrien to think she made it herself.

Suddenly, his ears pick up some soft sniffling. Looking from the picture, he sees Marinette, crouching in front of the picture, her eyes shimmering with tears that want to spill unbidden. But, alas, her akuma made fate will not let it be.

“So,” M. Dupain-Cheng begins, clearing his throat in an attempt to steer the superhero into talking, “what do you need to talk to us about?”

Adrien tears his eyes from Marinette and does his best to ignore the sniffling and his engraved instincts to want to help her. He has a job to do.

He rests his gaze on the couple and is startled to see real concern in the eyes. He almost breaks down at that, almost no one shows him real concern anymore. It’s-well, it’s... he isn’t sure what it is, but it’s powerful.

He shakes his head to gather his thoughts. “Right, right... so, roughly two weeks ago now, give or take a few days, there was an akuma attack. Just outside your apartment, actually. This was a weird akuma. Excuse me for calling him ‘Akuma’ he never stated any name, so I have nothing to work with. Anyway, after I took him down, things started to escalate. Attacks got more dangerous and more frequent.”

Adrien pauses, taking a look at them. Then continues. “The akuma had a really weird power,” at their raise eyebrows, he explains just how weird it was. “Weirder than normal akuma. I’m still not quite sure how it worked, or works, but whomever the akuma touched. Well, they faded. And with them, all most all, if not all, memories of them. When I caught up to him, he was doing nothing, and was the easiest akuma to incapacitate. But he affected Paris more than I had thought.”

The Dupain-Cheng’s are very understandably shocked. This is where things start to get complicated. “Now, since I’m not sure if you know about time shenanigans, since I don’t know a lot about them either, I’m just going to explain what I’ve found out. So, the akuma has essentially eliminated a few, of not dozens of people, and has altered the timeline to erase them and all memories of them. So, at this moment in time, we are living in an Alternate Timeline, with false memories to make up for what has been erased. All I know is that anything that has happened in the last two weeks is real. Most of almost everything else might not be real.”

Their blank looks are fit for the situation. It’s a _bit_ confusing.

“There is one victim in particular that has made the biggest changes to the timeline than the others, Ladybug. Ladybug is supposed to be my partner, my counterpart. Part of a duo. But she was hit during that attack, and _everything_ changed. And without her, we cannot rectify any damages brought on by current or future akuma.”

At this, the Dupain-Cheng’s confusion turns to concern and fear. Adrien takes a deep, steadying breath, as he knows what he is about to say next will be quite emotionally triggering.

“Before I go on, I _must_ as you something personal.” M. Dupain-Cheng opens his mouth to argue, but Adrien hastily cuts in with, “I’m sorry, I really am, but what I’m asking is crucial to the recovery of Paris.”

M. Dupain-Cheng turns to his wife, and they share a silent conversation that only people who have lived a long time together can accomplish. Tikki and Plagg do it sometimes. Maybe someday Adrien can share that experience with someone?

Maybe Marinette...?

_Wait, what?!_

But before he can berate himself further for that train of thought, the married couple turns to him and nod.

He looks away from them, and to the single picture of a happy Marinette by the TV. If he looks at them, he won’t be able to start it, then he’ll have wasted everyone’s time. “Can you tell me what happened to your daughter?”

There’s a silence, an extremely uncomfortable silence. Adrien is quite sure M. Dupain-Cheng is glaring at him, while Mme. Dupain-Cheng is staring at him with big, sad eyes.

After a second, M. Dupain-Cheng speaks up, his voice gruff, filled with emotions. “She was our only daughter. She was- she was just a bundle of joy- just a bright light in this sea of darkness. She was so lovable, and she easily loved everyone else.”

“She was the best thing to happen to us- the best thing to happen to this world.” Mme. Dupain-Cheng adds.

“But-“ The older man’s voice hitches, “She never even made it to the age of 10.” He clears his throat but continues, “when she was 2, she was diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, DIPG, an aggressive childhood tumor that grows in the brain stem. It was inoperable. They gave her one year.” M. Dupain-Cheng’s voice cracks, and he becomes silent. So, Mme. Dupain-Cheng steps in.

“She was a strong, fierce fighter, so, when she remained healthy past the one-year mark, we returned to the doctor. It’s rare for children to survive passed one year, and even more rare for them to survive to up to 5 years. When she turned seven, we were all overjoyed. Then, a month later, she got too sick, and had to be out in the hospital, where she remained until she turned 8, only having a few hours a week to return home to have some fun. She turned 8 and ate the cake she had made all by herself. She was so happy... A day later, she was brain dead.” Mme. Dupain-Cheng trails off. Leaving the atmosphere thick with emotion.

Her funeral was beautiful, organized by her former school bully. Everyone she every spent more than an hour came, that how lovable she was.

Adrien’s eyes started burning before they even started talking, and now his vision is blurry with water and a few stray tears have escaped down his cheeks. But he can’t wipe them away, no matter what. It might not be “Agreste Etiquette” or quite socially acceptable, but he’s Chat-Freakin’-Noir, Savior of Paris, Bringer of Destruction, and he _will_ cry to show them how deeply touched he is.

“I-... I know you’ve heard this a thousand times before, but I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry for what you’ve been through. I can’t possibly imagine what it’s like to lose a child. Just trying to... it just can’t be done.” His eyes may be done leaking tears, but his eyes aren’t don’t making everything blurry. But it helps Adrien to get through what he needs to say. “And, before you say anything, I need to say what I came here for.” He takes a deep breath. It isn’t easy telling parents that he could potentially bring back their dead daughter. “What would you say if I told you that you could see her again?”

The look in their eyes tell him everything. It fills him with comfort and longing and pride. Comfort knowing that Marinette has such loving parents to come home to. Longing for those same parents for himself. And pride knowing that he’s bringing them a possibility of seeing their daughter again.

“Okay, let me explain. As I said earlier, we are in an alternate timeline. That means, in the original timeline, your daughter is alive and healthy. And, in the other timeline, the original, the last person the akuma touched, the last person he victimized, was your daughter. But something went wrong,” at their looks of concern he hastily adds: “No, no, not like that, this is a good thing. You see, she isn’t quite gone yet, and I don’t understand why, but she isn’t yet. Which means we have a way to make this all right again!” Now, Adrien does understand, and he knows exactly why she isn’t gone yet, but he can’t tell them that their daughter is the mystical Ladybug who, in the original timeline, has been fighting dangerous akuma for years.

“I’ve found a way to bring her back. And in order to restore this timeline to the original, I need her.”

M. Dupain-Cheng looks speechless, opening and closing his mouth without any words coming out.

Mme. Dupain-Cheng takes her husband’s moment of speechlessness to clarify some things for them. “You’re saying, that we could have our daughter back.” Her voice is quivering, but that understandable, he’s just dropped a bombshell on them. “That you’ve found a way to bring her back. That she’s the key ingredient to making this all right again?”

“Yes.”

The hopeful look in her eyes increases, and behind that, determination burns bright. “Then tell me how. What do we have to do?”

“All I need, Mme. Dupain-Cheng, is something important to you, and her, that can tether her more fully to this realm. Something that holds an extremely fond memory. Would it be okay if you showed me to some of the things you have?”

His growing hopelessness fades quickly as they both hastily agree to help. As they’re walking over to a cabinet, most likely where the keys to the padlocks are, he steals a glance at Marinette. She’s coming over to them, to the cabinet. Her eyes are red. He doesn’t get more than that as he turns back to the married couple, trying desperately to come up with a stalling question so that his plan can be put into action. The picture of a young Marinette holding a cake comes to mind.

“So, uh, I couldn’t help but see that picture of your daughter by the Tv. I’m guessing it’s the most recent. Can you tell me more about it?”

As they’re telling him about the picture, he discretely pulls the new key from his pocket and clasps his hands behind his back to mask the passing of the key. Not even a second later a hand brushes his and he releases his hold on the key. A few seconds later, a hand brushes his again and he opens his hand. Another key lands in his hand and he hastily closes his hand around the key. As the Dupain-Cheng’s head back to the drawer, he pockets the key and looks over to Marinette. Her eyes are puffy and seem to be red, but determination burns in her eyes. The same determination burning in her mother’s eyes. She is _more_ than impatient to get back to being wrapped up in her parents’ arms. _Oh_ , how he wishes he could have that.

M. Dupain-Cheng grabs the key to stairs and proceeds to unlock it. They walk into the attic and he briefly looks to the crib. All traces of their netting up here, or Marinette’s handprints are gone. He glances up to the trap door. If you glance at it, it looks normal. But with his enhanced vision, and prior knowledge, he can see that its slightly warped. The pad lock looks normal, too.

The Dupain-Cheng’s look around the attic, trying to look for something substantial, but somehow, all of their gazes’ land on the baby crib. Adrien knows he needs it, so does Marinette. But, as the Dupain-Cheng’s walk over to it, it seems like they know that he needs it too.

He lets them take a moment to reminisce in front of the crib. It must be hard to do what they are doing.

After a few minutes, they stand up and give him permission to take the crib, the picture of Marinette in her father's arms is clutched closely to Mme. Dupain-Cheng’s chest. As gently as possible, he picks up the crib and walks with them down to the bakery.

He bids them goodbye and walks out of the bakery into a nearby alley. He takes a breath and releases his transformation.  Plagg spirals out of his ring and floats in front of his face. Plagg looks proud of him, then he hides in his shirt pocket, where he’s sure Tikki has settled in by now. The cold presence is with him again, and he couldn’t be happier. He walks as fast as the crib will allow him to, while also walking cautiously. After a good fifteen minutes, he walks into Master Fu’s massage parlor.

* * *

 

Tikki wasn’t expecting any of this to be this easy. Adrien came up with a crazy plan and it worked about as easy as he said it could. She wasn’t expecting his plan to work, and she’s seen a lot of plans over the 5000+ years she’s been interacting with humans, but maybe that's how heist plans are supposed to go. But it also wasn’t exactly a heist...

Adrien could make a good ladybug. He has the thinking skills and he’s smart. But he doesn’t exactly have the forward thinking that makes her ladybugs great. He’s mostly improv. That’s why he’s such a good choice for Plagg. He works with the flow that is destruction.

As they - Adrien mostly, she and Plagg are tucked inside his shirt pocket - enter the parlor she can hear Master Fu working on the Akuma in the jars. When had he come back? It must have been when they were gone. Tikki decides it would be a good idea to go get him. They need him to find out where to go next.

Leaving the pocket, she hears Plagg’s soft whine and she can’t help but smirk. No matter what Plagg says, he is a cat and he loves attention and physical affection. Especially cuddles. Especially when they involve his chosen. That’s why you can find him sleeping on his chosen’s faces. Shaking her head, she flies over to Fu.

She isn’t sure how many akuma there were before Fu started working on the akuma, but now there are only ten. It seems significant, and she can help him whittle it down later.

She flies in front of Fu’s face to stop him from starting another purification spell. “Master, Adrien needs to talk to you. It’s important.”

Master Fu raises a skeptical brow. “I am purifying the akuma, what is more important than that?”

Tikki huffs. “Trust me, the akuma can wait.”

Master Fu only crosses his arms stubbornly.

“It’s about the Ladybug Miraculous!” Tikki all but shouts. At that, Master Fu hastily makes to get up. Figures.

“Show me the way.” Master Fu says after his nearly 30-second-long rush to get up.

She zips out of the room, but back in at Master Fu’s call to slow down.

When Master Fu reaches her, she more slowly zips off to Adrien and Plagg.

Entering the room with Master Fu behind her, she basically teleports over to Plagg because she moves so fast. Plagg immediately curls up to Tikki and starts rubbing his cheek on hers.

Shortly after, Master Fu enters and furrows his brow at the dusty baby crib in the middle of his massage parlor.

“Why, is there a dusty baby crib in my parlor?”

“Ah. That. Well, I had a plan and it worked.”

“Please, explain to me.” Master Fu says as he makes his way to the tea pot on the table in the center of the room.

She doesn’t really focus on anything after that. She can hear Adrien tell Master Fu his crazy plan that worked but it doesn’t really register in her mind. All she can think about really is, one: Plagg started purring! Two: her miraculous is somehow stuck in a ghost's ears (she’s thought she’d been feeling the presence of her Miraculous, but has chalked it up to her imagination), and three: she’s beginning to feel increasingly cold. She’s pretty much felt cold since she woke up, but now it’s getting worse. It might just be from Marinette getting closer to her.

After a few minutes of purring and background talking, she can hear Master Fu agree to run some ideas by Adrien.

Now that she’s really thinking, she hasn’t actually faded for a little while. She has faded more when she’s right next to Adrien while transformed. But it was nothing big. Just a few limbs... Okay, she can’t make this sound nonchalant, she’s freaking out and she’s been fading more than usual around Chat Noir. She just doesn’t want to freak anyone out, they’re getting close to figuring out how to get Marinette and the miraculous back.

Plagg hasn’t stopped purring and it’s *really* soothing. It seems Plagg craves attention more than he let on in 1550 A.D. So, feeling content, she closes her eyes, and tries to sleep.

“TIKKI!!!”

A few seconds later Plagg wakes her up by screeching her name. Her eyes snap open and she looks around for the danger. Finding none, she turns to glare at Plagg. Just as her gaze lands on Plagg's face, his horrified expression morphs into one of confusion and pain. _Weird, that usually isn’t his expression when he pulls a prank._

“Tikki?” A timid voice comes from behind her. She turns and sees a frazzled, broken looking girl looking at her. “Why are you here with me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, all of you! I wasn’t expecting this to get nearly as far as it has. Nor have a ever expected this to be read by as many people! I mean, almost 1600 hits?! That’s insane, and I’m so happy! I also never expected to get even above 10 kudos, so thank you. 
> 
> For all of you who have read this before my massive overhaul, thank you. You gave me the courage to do all of this. VixenIchigo, thank you. You spurred me to basically rewrite all of this, I hope it’s gotten better, I think I’ve gotten better writing. 
> 
> Anyway, turns out I had combined chapter 10 and 11, so I’ll be changing the final chapter number, again.   
> But, seriously, thank you all. I’m not sure if you’ve liked this, but I’m beyond happy that you even read a part of this fic!


	10. Old Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Losing memories suck. What doesn’t suck is regaining those memories. What’s even better is regaining even older memories. What suck again is finding out that you lost older memories for a very, very long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update, my life is kind of s mess right now. Anyway, I finally got this out and I hope you enjoy it! 
> 
> Also, sorry I’m advance for any spelling errors. Like I said, my life is kind of messed up and it bleeds into my writing just a bit. 
> 
> I’m planning of editing this chapter after I’m done with editing the other chapters, so expect edits to be done before more chapters come out.

Tikki cocks her head slightly, who is this girl?

“What are you doing here, Tikki?” This girl asks. Why-how does she know her name? Who is she?

“Tikki?” This girl takes a step closer and her features seem so very familiar. Round cheeks, fair skin, fierce blue eyes (but they seem to dull and full of depression to be described as fierce), raven blue hair, pulled into pigtails by red ribbons. 

The clothes are familiar too! A gray blazer, white shirt with a big floral print next to her right collar bone, pink jeans that stop mid calf, with tan/pink flats. It’s so familia. 

“Tikki?!” Her  _ voice _ . She  _ knows  _ this girl. 

She  **_knows_ ** _ this girl _

This girl knows her. 

Then it hits her. It hits her like a 50 ton boulder. She can make than analogy, it’s happened to her before. Well, not directly, but one of her holders has been hit by a 50 ton boulder while transformed. And when the wielders are transformed, she feels the brunt of the pain. Anyway, it hits her  **_hard_ ** . 

“Mari- _ nette! _ ” She’s unable to stop her voice from cracking from emotion. 

Then she disappears. Her eyes widen, feeling uncomfortable with unshed tears. After a second, the tears disappear, and she can’t remember what happened. She was just laying with Plagg. Why is she floating more than a foot away from him? Why is her heart beating so fast? It doesn’t normally beat this fast, even in dangerous situations. It’s only best this erratically when she’s about to lose a holder, or she thinks she caught a glimpse of they’re spirit. But she can’t remember.

Actually, she can remember something. Something that seems so familiar. Like how you know that you’ve seen an actor/actress before, you know their name, you know you’ve seen them before. But it’s the other way around now, mostly. She remembers the name. Just the name: Marinette. 

No matter how hard she tries to remember where she knows the name from, nothing shows. So, before the name can fade from her mind too, she latches onto it. Repeating it in her mind in a chant. She can’t lose this name again. It’s too important. She doesn’t know why it’s important. She just  _ knows  _ it is. 

Shaking her head, she turns to head back to cuddle with Plagg, but she finds that she’s already sitting down with him. Somehow in those few seconds she returned to Plagg’s side. He’s nuzzling her cheek, and he’s purring again. Again? Suddenly a very vague memory of Plagg shrieking her name, and looking utterly horrified, flashes through her mind and she like something is off. But the memory quickly dissipates, so she shrugs it off and cuddles Plagg back. Only this time, she can’t fall asleep. She just can’t get over the feeling that something is  _ off.  _ She just can’t place why. 

Not wanting to focus on that feeling, she decides to focus on the conversation Adrien and Master Fu are having. She can see them talking but no matter how hard she tries, she just can’t register what they’re saying. 

Periodically, she would catch the very end of her paw or antenna disappear, then reappear a second later. That’s normal enough. It’s been happening for at least a week now. Something that isn’t normal is that she would sometimes catch the very, very,  _ very  _ vague outline of a person standing just inside of her peripheral vision, but when she would turn her head even slightly, it would be gone. Sometimes it would appear by Adrien and Master Fu, and she would freak out, then calm down a bit, then freak out harder when the outline is gone and an entire arm disappears for a second. 

The only things keeping her grounded is Plagg purring next to her, Adrien and Master Fu talking to each other and occasionally look over to her and Plagg, and the constant feeling of coldness. Not very cold, just like the room has dropped two degrees from what it’s supposed to be. 

“-Marinette-“ That name drops from Adrien’s mouth. Why is it so important?

Master Fu draws a triangle in the dust on the side of the crib. On the left side, he writes ‘Yes’, on the bottom he writes ‘Maybe’, and in the ride side Adrien writes ‘No’.

They ask simple questions. Like, “Are you here?”, “Do you go to _____ school?” For some reason her mind blocks out the name of the school. 

For the next ten minutes, they ask simple questions that her mind blocks out. It’s really weird. 

She tries to focus on the conversation, on the questions, on this Marinette person. But now her mind isn’t just blocking the answers, it’s causing her painful headaches. It brings back a sense of Déja Vu.like this has happened before. 

Then, a memory pops up, and it stays. It’s a memory of losing memories. She can’t remember what memories she lost, or when it happened, only that some memories were ripped from her mind. 

She focuses on this new memory, and why it just popped up. And if it could be tied to Marinette. Deciding that sleeping could help provide more answers to these, she tries to let Plagg’s purring soothe her. 

Feeling sleep start to creep over her tiny body, she relaxes into Plagg, feeling more comfortable than she has in what seems like years. She lets her eyes close. 

Then all feeling is ripped away from her, just like those memories. She isn’t sleepy anymore. She isn't comfortable. She isn’t relaxed. She isn’t cold. But she also isn’t awake. She isn’t uncomfortable. She isn’t on edge. She isn’t warm. She’s just inbetween. Not feeling  _ anything. _

  
She opens her eyes after a few seconds, and scans the room. Plagg’s body is where it was before, but his purring has completely stopped, and his furry face is contorted I confusion and hurt. Not pain, just hurt. Master Fu is cradling his head with a hand, his face slightly pinched in pain. Adrien is keeled over, clutching his head in both of his hand, his face a flurry of several severe emotions, all bad ones, like he was just hit with a severe psych blast (yes, those exist, luckily Hawkmoth hasn’t figured out how to make an akuma do that. It’s much to dangerous for him and everyone else. Maybe Nooroo is limiting his powers?). 

Then she sees the person. The outline she’s been seeing. But it’s no longer an outline. It’s an actual person. So, this is Mari-

Her mind clicks into place, and memories flood her brain, and vision. Memories of laughing with Marinette. Memories of being melded to this girl while they fight Akumatized victims. Memories of watching Marinette freak out over small things. Memories of  _ Marinette.  _ Memories of  _ life _ with Marinette. 

Upon her memories of Marinette coming returning to her, she’s overcome with emotion, and with an almighty “Thunk” (that should have been impossible for such a small creature to make) she collides into Marinette’s chest, crying all the way. 

She feels Marinette stagger, but soon Marinette cradles her. Tears are rolling freely dkwnboth if their cheeks. Then, after a few seconds, Marinette freezes. Tikki, feeling the sudden stillness, look up to Marinette. 

“What’s wrong, Marinette?” She asks, she then immediately knows why. She feels the warmth of Marinette and she hasn’t felt anything beforehand. 

Marinette hasn’t been able to feel anything (not cold, not hot, just... nothing), for about 2 weeks. She understands, when Marinette crumples to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably. 

  
She relishes in this moment, of being with her holder. Of feeling complete. Of being able to comfort her. 

Then Marinette disappears from sight, and two voices ask her name in unison. She doesn’t really register it, because her memories were just yanked from her. Back to vague memories of Marinette. Though this time, it’s different. She remembers what she looks like, what she sounds like, and that her name is Marinette. She doesn’t remember anything other than those three things. This time, when she catches the outline, it’s a bit more pronounced, and clearly shows a girl. 

Then she remembers something else. Something that she should t have been able to remember. 

She remembers a name. Eve. Then Adam. But she also remembers more than those names. She remembers that Adam and Eve went through this same thing. But it happened when on of their children got hold of the butterfly miraculous, and gave themself the power to completely erase a person from existence and all memories of them. This child managed to take the earrings from Eve, and the Ring from Adam. Then he erased them from existence.

Then another memory comes back to her. Marinette is Ladybug. Marinette is a teenager. She is wearing the miraculous. 

She shouldn’t be able to remember any of this. Not at all. But she isn’t complaining. They might not have been able to save Adam and Eve last time, but she  _ will  _ **_not_ ** allow Marinette to meet the same fate. She  _ will  _ **_not_ ** allow her memories of her to be lost forever. Or at least for hundreds of millennia. They  _ will  _ successfully get Marinette back.    
  


So, she starts to hatch a plan.

 

* * *

  
  
Oh, the universe is an awful, awful, awful thing. First she becomes a ghost that no one remembers. Then, she gets to see how life would have been without her. 

Suddenly, her reckless, thoughtful, loving, loyal and pun loving partner is her big time crush! And he was severely hurt. 

Her parents are plagued by the memory that their only child had a disease that would claim her before she even turned ten. Life seems to be so dull. 

Next thing she knows, she’s being interrogated with a ouija board. 

She definitely wasn’t expecting her life to get better for a brief moment, then crash into oblivion, then be somehow reborn from the flames, only to be torn apart by the atoms again.   
  
She definitely wasn’t ready to feel anything again. Emotionally speaking, she hasn’t felt like more of an amusement park in her entire life than she has in the past ten minutes. 

Physically, she hasn’t felt this... absent. Ever. She doesn’t want to get used to it. Being in limbo. It’s too evil a punishment. Not even Hawkmoth deserves this punishment, no matter what she thinks.    
  
This is all Marinette can think of while she’s sitting, crumpled on the floor, her sobbing increasing to the point where it sounds like the world is ripping apart by the seems. 

Tikkk had for the second time entered into limbo, though this time she actually touched her. She hasn’t physically felt anything until Tikki slammed into her. Then, she felt the warmth from Tikki, and she had broken down on the spot. Her hopes haven’t risen like that in a very long time. So, consequently, her hopes also haven’t been torn apart so viciously than they had when Tikki exited limbo into the real world.    
  
Adrien and Master Fu immediately stopped cradling their heads when Tikki re-appeared. Tikki looked confused, but also a little triumphant. Her tiny face then morphed into a look that said she couldn’t believe what just happened, then it morphed into the forced look of determination she had  **_ever_ ** seen. Like she just saw someone murder all the kwami, and the world right in front of her face, and she was going to  _ utterly  _ **_destroy_ ** them.

Master Fu and Adrien both called for her after a second of complete bafflement. The only reaction anyone got, was Tikki turning to Adrien, a look of determination that is completely terrifying burning in her eyes. One she knows all too well. It’s the mark of a devilishly complicated yet simplistic plan coming to life. But there is something else in there. The determination she saw before Tikki turned to Adrien was still in there. Fueling her current determination. Adrien scoots back a little bit, rightfully terrified of the little goddess. 

After a moment, Master Fu calls to Tikki again and this time, Tikki whips around to face him. Her lips are drawn into a tight line, but her eyes are burning with thoughts. 

  
Adrien calls to Tikki with a question, that Marinette couldn’t quite catch, and Tikki turns her head to him. 

She responds to his question but follows up with her own. This one she does catch. 

“Can you trust me?” 

“Of course!” Adrien and Master Fu reply instantly. 

“Do you know about Adam and Eve?” She starts. 

“Yeah, they are believed to be the first humans on earth by the Christian religions.” Adrien replies. 

“Well, they’re right.” Tikki tells him. “Hundreds Of millennia ago, there was a garden. This garden was extremely sacred. There was a fruit that if they ate it, even just took a single bite, they would be cast out of this garden, of the only place where they were safe. But this fruit was extremely powerful. Upon partaking of it, they would gain knowledge of all good and evil.

Long story short, they ate the fruit, and were cast out of the garden to wander the earth. 

Eve gave birth to children, and many, many years later, one of her children got a hold of the butterfly miraculous, (I can’t tell you how it came to be right now, it’s much too long of a story.) and have himself the power to completely erase a person from existence and all the memories of them. Adam and Eve were the holder’s of the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous at the time, (part of the story for the butterfly miraculous, I’ll share some other time), this child managed to take the miraculous from Adam and Eve, and then erase all memories of them and the miraculous. Everyone forgot about the miraculous except for that child and kwamis. The only people who will ever know about the miraculous are the descents of that child,” she nods to Master Fu, “and the people who actually see and use the miraculous.” She nods to Adrien. 

“Oh…” is all Adrien and Master Fu can say in response. 

“Then another memory surfaced. Marinette. I remember Marinette. I remember the name, what she looks like, and how she sounds.” At that Tikki pauses for dramatic response, while Marinette is shrieking in utter joy. 

“I also remember her being the current wielder. And that the miraculous are stuck in her ears right now!” She zips over to cup Master Fu’s cheeks, her eyes burning with the determination that she saw before, “We  _ will  _ get her  _ Back.  _ We  _ will  _ **_not_ ** lose her like we lost Adam and Eve.  _ Got it.”  _

Tikki’s “Got it.” was not a question. It was a statement. They will get her back, and they will not rest until they do. 

“She is a  _ teenager. _ ” Tikki continues. “A  **_teenager!_ ** She will not be subjected to the same fate that Adam and Eve experienced! She  _ will live  _ the rest of her life.” 

Another statement, one that is laced with such a tone that lets everyone know that she isn’t going to accept anything other than what she’s stating. Her time is so intense that it even wakes up Plagg, making him immediately wary of Tikki.   
Master Fu and Adrien sit in stunned silence.

Tikki continues once more, “The only thing that is keeping her from fading completely is me. Both the earrings are gone and since I’m not in them, she’s not going to be forgotten completely. There is a chance we can get her back. 

Tikki waits for this to sink in, when it does, both Adrien’s and Master Fu’s eyes widen, as well as her own. The only thing keeping her alive is Tikki. Subconsciously, Marinette covers her ears, where the miraculous are sitting. 

She continues on her rant. “If Marinette were able to transform, and purify an akuma. Then release the Miraculous Cure, she should be brought back, since it was the magic of the akuma that caused this to happen. Now, there will have to be something in the real world to keep her from fading completely, that’ll have to be an earring.” She takes a breath, before continuing, cutting off whatever Master Fu opened his mouth to say. “I should be able to transform her, and sustain the transformation long enough for her to capture, purify and then release the Cure.”

“You can?! Let’s do it!” Adrien agrees.

Tikki and Adrien turn to Master Fu.

“Okay, I’ll follow your lead for this. I think it’s too risky, but i'm not going to argue.” Master Fu agrees, after a minute of thought. 

“Perfect!” Tikki rubs her stubs together. “Now, before I leave, you need to right down, or record what I’ve just said.” She looks to Adrien. He scrambles to pull his phone out and pull up a recording app. Tikki repeats her plan into the phone recorder. 

“I’ll be back.” She says, her voice completely devoid of any of her personality, and full of angry determination. She then closes her eyes, and seems to focus. After a second, Adrien and Master Fu

  
Both keel over clutching their heads in pain, but it doesn’t seem to be as bad as it was before with Adrien. 

Tikki looks to her, and recognition fills Tikki’s eyes, replacing her anger. She zips over to nuzzle her cheeks before reassuring her that, “Yes, she completely beloved that she can transform her with one earring. Just take out one earring and place it into the crib.” 

Reluctantly, she complies to Tikki’s plan, and she sees, as her hand retracts from the earring, that the earring has just materialized from limbo and is sitting in the crib, fully available for them to grab it. 

She and Tikki watch with some level of amusement as Adrien and Master Fu look at it in confusion.    
  
“Try the transformation, Marinette!” Tikki urges.

It can’t hurt her, right? It's just going to look weird, right? 

Deciding to try it out, she takes a deep breath, and upon releasing it, calls for her transformation. 

The rush of magic washes over her for the first time in two weeks. Her muscles seem to increase in density, increasing her strength. Her body seems lighter. Her mind sharpens. Her eyes take in more days, making it seem like she can see so much more. 

She closes her eyes and just stands still for a few seconds, relishing in the familiar feeling of being covered by magic. The first thing she notices after the rush of magic adrenaline finishes filling her body, is her hair. It’s styled differently, maybe to conserve energy. Instead of two ribbons pulling her hair into pigtails, what seems to be a hair tie pulls it into a ponytail. It’s slightly uncomfortable, but not as uncomfortable as it would be if she never pulled her hair back. 

The next thing she notices is that there doesn’t seem to be a mask. Her eyes snap open, and she brings her right hand up to feel her face. There isn’t a mask. It’s so weird but, honestly, it doesn’t matter. 

Now that she isn’t in a small panic about not having a mask, she finally sees her hand. It’s covered by fingerless gloves. The gloves just barely cover her wrist, and the second knuckle of each finger, as well as just barely covering the second knuckle of her thumb. The gloves are fire truck red, with a lack strip running from each finger to the wrist. 

Looking up her arm, she finds that it’s bare. Probably to conserve energy, too. 

Looking at her torso, she finds that she’s wearing a red, spotted black sports bra. 

Looking further down her body, she finds that she’s wearing red, form fitting shorts that reach just past mid thigh. On the side of the short, a black stripe runs from her hip to the bottom of the shorts. 

Looking at her feet, she’s wearing black skin tight boots. They aren’t actually a thing, but due to the magic, she’s wearing something that looks like boots, but fit like a sock. It’s weird. On the sock/boots, three red stripes, just snover the ankle, run horizontally across the sock/boots. 

The familiar weight of her yo-yo is still on her hip, somehow she missed seeing anything on her hip. Looking to where the yo-yo should be, she finds a jar. But not just any jar. This jar has a lid! As well as a magical metal clip for the jar to rest on a red string resting around her hips!

Yeah, she can’t make it sound cool. It’s just a jsr, that has a clip that allows it to clip onto the red string that’s resting around her hip. 

This is obviously not something for combat. Or anything really. This should never see the light of day ever again. But even though it is completely horrendous, there are some design elements she’d like to implement into her normal suit, since it’s just so  _ bland.  _

The fingerless gloves for instance. Now, with her actual suit, they won’t be fingerless (she’ll have black magic spandex start where the red ends so that her fingers can be covered). 

And the sock/boots. She likes those too. But she’ll have them be completely black instead what they are now. 

She could also use some shoulder pads. She won’t really need extra protection since she normally doesn’t get into close combat, but they should be able to provide extra support for her shoulders. They have gotten stronger over the years, but sometimes, after a long battle or after she’s been swinging on her yo-yo for hours, her shoulders are barely moveable. 

Nodding to herself, making sure she remembers what she’d like to incorporate into her normal ladybug suit, she releases her transformation 

Not wanting to let her design changes leave her mind, she tells Tikki all about them. Hopefully Tikki has a better memory than she herself does. 

After making sure that Tikki remembers what she’d like for her normal suit, she allows Tikki to return to the normal world and recharge. She’ll need Tikki at her best when she transforms to purify the akuma from beyond the natural world

When Tikki materializes in front of Adrien and Master Fu again, she chuckles lightly at their looks of confusion. It never gets old. Even though it’s only happens a few times. 

Just as Master Fu open his mouth to ask something, Tikki cuts him off with her own question. 

“Where’s the akuma? The one from the mind bender villain.”

“Mind Bender!” Adrien suddenly exclaims, “Tikki you’re a genius. I’ve been trying to get a name for him for ages!” 

“O… Kay?” Tikki says, raising an eyebrow. “Anyway, where is it?” 

Instead of answering her, Master Fu and Adrien look to each other. Their eyes going wide. It looks like they’re having a concerned, silent conversation.

It appears to end when both Master Fu’s expression changes from concern to utter disbelief, while Adrien slaps a hand to his forehead and groans. 

“Please answer me. I can’t read minds.” Tikki tells them. 

Before Adrien or Master Fu get a chance to tell her, Plagg speaks for the first time in at least 15 minutes. 

“It’s in Adrien’s room.” He sounds so  _ done  _ with these humans. It’s actually amusing. 

Tikki sighs, letting everyone know that she is for once, on the same page as Plagg. “Okay, lets go to Adrien’s.” 

  
Adrien sighs and stands up, he turns to Master Fu. “Stay here, we’ll be back shortly.” Adrien tells Master Fu. He looks over to Plagg and Plagg lets out a whine, but sighs in defeat. Without uttering a single word, Plagg is sucked into the miraculous and Chat Noir replaces Adrien.

  
She catches Adrien say “I just  _ had  _ to forget to bring the jar here before I left. Thanks Plagg.” to himself as he walks out the door. 

**Author's Note:**

> I don't have a writing schedule or a posting schedule, so I'm not exactly sure when the next chapter will come out. Thank you! 
> 
> Thanks for reading, and enjoy what I have posted. Check out Miracu-less on Tumblr!  
> This is the post that inspired me, and yes, i did ask for permission to write this fic: https://miracu-less.tumblr.com/post/178247706383/heres-an-ml-story-idea-im-sharing-because-im


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